The German bass Manuel Winckhler studied at the Mozarteum University in Salzburg with Andreas Macco and Fenna Kügel-Seifried and at the University of Music and Theatre in Munich with Lars Woldt.
Since the 2024/25 season he has been a member of the International Opera Studio of the Berlin State Opera, where he has appeared in roles such as Vanuzzi (Die schweigsame Frau), the One-Armed Brother (Die Frau ohne Schatten), High Priest of Baal (Nabucco), Truffaldino (Ariadne auf Naxos) and Samuel (Un ballo in maschera). In May 2026 he had great success in the role of Sarastro (Die Zauberflöte).
Following his return to the Salzburg Festival as Le Bailli in concert performances of Werther, at the start of the 2026/27 season Manuel Winckhler will join the ensemble of the Berlin State Opera. There he will give further performances as Sarastro and Truffaldino, and also appear as Seneca (L’incoronazione di Poppea), Antonio (Le nozze di Figaro), the Sacristan (Tosca) and the Woodcutter in a new production of Königskinder under Christian Thielemann. In 2027 he will make his house debuts at La Monnaie in Brussels as Truffaldino in a new production of Ariadne auf Naxos and at the Baden-Baden Festspielhaus as Don Fernando in a new production of Fidelio.
Previous guest engagements have included Sarastro at the Karlsruhe State Theatre and in concert performances with the Deutsche Kammerphilharmonie Bremen at the Bremen Music Festival, the Konzerthaus Dortmund, the Elbphilharmonie in Hamburg and the Enescu Festival in Bucharest, Prince Gremin (Eugene Onegin) at Theater Aachen, Osmin (Die Entführung aus dem Serail) at the Munich Kammeroper and the Mother in Weill’s Die sieben Todsünden and the Hermit / Samiel in Christoph Marthaler’s production of Der Freischütz with Opera Vlaanderen.
In 2024 Manuel Winckhler was a participant in the Young Singers Project of the Salzburg Festival and won first prize in the Bundeswettbewerb Gesang in Berlin in the Opera / Operetta category.
His concert repertory includes Mozart’s Requiem, Haydn’s The Creation, Brahms’s Ein deutsches Requiem, Bruckner’s Mass in F minor and Mozart’s Mass in C minor, with ensembles such as the Antwerp Symphony Orchestra, Collegium Vocale Gent, the Styriarte Festival Orchestra, the Munich Philharmonic and capella sollertia.
