Michael Laurenz

Michael Laurenz was born in Halle on the Saale and began his musical career as a trumpeter. While training he performed in the Gustav Mahler Jugendorchester, going on to become first trumpet with the Berlin Symphony Orchestra. From 2006 he concentrated on singing. From 2008 to 2010 he was a member of the International Opera Studio of the Zurich Opera House, subsequently becoming a member of the company there. From 2018 to 2020 he was a member of the ensemble of the Vienna State Opera. Since the 2020/21 season he has been freelance.

Guest engagements have taken Michael Laurenz to perform at the State Operas of Berlin, Hamburg and Munich, the Paris Opéra, La Scala, Milan, the Theater an der Wien and the opera houses of Amsterdam, Geneva, Lyon and Antwerp, where he made his role debuts as Aegisth (Elektra) and Albert Gregor (The Makropulos Affair).

He has appeared at the Glyndebourne Festival as the Dancing Master (Ariadne auf Naxos) and performed at the Stuttgart Musikfest in Ullmann’s Der Kaiser von Atlantis. He made his debut at the Bregenz Festival in Weinberg’s opera Das Porträt, returning there as Erich in the world premiere of HK Gruber’s Geschichten aus dem Wiener Wald, as Orsino in Goldschmidt’s Beatrice Cenci and as Goro (Madama Butterfly).

In 2012 Michael Laurenz made his Salzburg Festival debut as Scaramuccio (Ariadne auf Naxos). He has returned to Salzburg to sing Cauchon in Braunfels’s Jeanne d’Arc and Josef K. in Gottfried von Einem’s Der Prozess (both concert performances) and in 2020 and 2021 as Aegisth (Elektra).

Recent highlights include four role debuts: as the Fool (Der Schatzgräber) at the Deutsche Oper Berlin, as Baron Lummer (Intermezzo) at Theater Basel, as David (Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg) at the Vienna State Opera and as Loge (Das Rheingold) at the Theater Basel and at the Vienna State Opera.

Following his return to the Salzburg Festival as Spalanzani (Les Contes d’Hoffmann), Michael Laurenz’s appearances in the 2024/25 season will include Mime in Das Rheingold and Siegfried with the Dallas Symphony Orchestra under Fabio Luisi, Bernardo Novagerio (Palestrina), Matteo (Arabella) and Mime (Das Rheingold and Siegfried) at the Vienna State Opera, Count Villalobos in Johann Strauss’s Das Spitzentuch der Königin at the Theater an der Wien, Mime (Das Rheingold) at the Opéra de Monte-Carlo and Loge (Das Rheingold) at Theater Basel.