Martin Winkler

Austrian bass-baritone Martin Winkler was born in Bregenz and studied with Walter Berry at Vienna’s University of Music and Performing Arts. His first permanent engagement was with the Mecklenburg State Theatre in Schwerin, after which he joined the Komische Oper in Berlin, making his acclaimed house debut in 2003 as Nekrotzar (Le Grand Macabre). Guest engagements have taken him to the Opéra de Lyon, the Prague State Opera and the Vienna Volksoper. He has been a member of the Volksoper since 2009, appearing in many leading bass-baritone roles, including Puccini’s Gianni Schicchi, Bartolo (Il barbiere di Siviglia), Kecal (The Bartered Bride) and the Ruler in Korngold’s Das Wunder der Heliane.

Other roles in which Martin Winkler has been heard include Corporal Mors in Carl Nielsen’s Maskarade, the Sacristan and Gaoler in Tosca and Sartorius in the world premiere of Detlef Glanert’s Solaris at the Bregenz Festival, the title role in Wozzeck for the Graz Opera, Waldner (Arabella) at the Dresden State Opera and the Animal Tamer (Lulu) at the Metropolitan Opera in New York. He has also sung Wagner’s Alberich in Rome, Brussels, Stockholm, Warsaw, Nuremberg and Düsseldorf and in Frank Castorf’s new production of the Ring at the 2013 Bayreuth Festival under Kirill Petrenko. Other invitations have taken him to the Munich and Vienna State Operas, the Leipzig Opera and the Grand Théâtre de Genève.

Martin Winkler is making his Salzburg Festival debut as Jupiter in Orphée aux enfers. Plans for 2019/20 include numerous roles with the Vienna Volksoper and appearances with the Teatro Real in Madrid, the Dresden State Opera and the Théâtre Royal de la Monnaie in Brussels.