Michael Volle

The baritone Michael Volle is one of the most in-demand singers of his generation. He performs regularly at the State Operas of Berlin, Munich and Vienna, the Semperoper Dresden, La Scala, Milan, London’s Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, the Paris Opéra and the Metropolitan Opera, New York, and appears at international festivals such as those of Salzburg and Bayreuth. Michael Volle also performs at all the leading concert halls worldwide, with the world’s most renowned orchestras. He has worked with conductors such as Daniel Barenboim, Zubin Mehta, Christian Thielemann, Antonio Pappano, Mariss Jansons, Franz Welser-Möst, Valery Gergiev, Thomas Hengelbrock, Simon Rattle and Frieder Bernius.

Michael Volle is one of the leading interpreters of the great German baritone roles. His list of Wagner roles includes the eponymous hero of Der fliegende Holländer, Hans Sachs (Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg), Wotan and Wanderer in Der Ring des Nibelungen, Amfortas (Parsifal) and Wolfram von Eschenbach (Tannhäuser); his repertory also includes Strauss’s Jokanaan (Salome), Orest (Elektra), Barak (Die Frau ohne Schatten) and Mandryka (Arabella). In the Italian repertory he has sung the title role of Nabucco, Iago (Otello), Scarpia (Tosca) and Count Almaviva (Le nozze di Figaro). Michael Volle’s forthcoming projects in 2023 include Der fliegende Holländer at the Bayreuth Festival and Barak at the Vienna State Opera.

Michael Volle is a dedicated Lieder singer, and regularly gives recitals with the pianist Helmut Deutsch, including at the Heidelberg Spring Festival and the Schwarzenberg Schubertiade.

His achievements are documented on numerous CD and DVD recordings, live cinema relays worldwide and the film production The Hunter’s Bride (Der Freischütz) featuring Michael Volle as Caspar. He won the Der Faust theatre prize in 2009 for his interpretation of the title role of Wozzeck. In 2008 and 2014 the magazine Opernwelt named him Singer of the Year.