Peter Kellner

Source: Arsis Artists Management

The young Slovak bass Peter Kellner has established himself as one of the most promising artists of his generation, performing at major international houses such as the Vienna State Opera, the Semperoper Dresden, the Metropolitan Opera in New York, the Royal Opera House Covent Garden in London, and the San Francisco Opera.
In the 2025/26 season, Peter Kellner will open the season at the Vienna State Opera as Kezal in a new production of The Bartered Bride. He will also appear at the house as Guglielmo in Così fan tutte. As Re di Scozia, he returns to the Royal Opera House Covent Garden in Handel’s Ariodante, before making his role debut as Daland in The Flying Dutchman at the Opéra de Rouen. The Semperoper Dresden presents him as Colline (La Bohème) and Frère Laurent (Roméo et Juliette), and he will once again sing the Water Goblin (Rusalka) at the National Theatre in Prague. His performances at the Salzburg Whitsun and Summer Festivals in Rossini’s Il viaggio a Reims are eagerly anticipated.
Recent highlights include Figaro at the Lyric Opera of Chicago, his role debut as Raimondo (Lucia di Lammermoor) at the Semperoper Dresden, Figaro, Leporello, and Guglielmo in the Da Ponte cycle at the Vienna State Opera, Colline and Papageno at the Royal Opera House Covent Garden, and Colline for his MET debut. He has also appeared as Figaro and Masetto at the Staatsoper Unter den Linden in Berlin, and made role debuts as Osmin (Die Entführung aus dem Serail) in Hamburg and as the Water Goblin (Rusalka) in Prague. Additional roles include Basilio (Il barbiere di Siviglia), Theseus (A Midsummer Night’s Dream) under Simone Young, and Il Re di Scozia (Ariodante) at the Vienna State Opera. Peter Kellner is a regular guest at the Salzburg Festival, where he has appeared as Brander in La Damnation de Faust, in Elektra, and in a Mozart Matinee.
In concert, Peter Kellner has performed Beethoven’s Symphony No. 9 with the Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France under Jaap van Zweden and Mozart’s Requiem in Prague, among other engagements.
Peter Kellner made his debut at the Vienna State Opera as Panthée in Berlioz’s Les Troyens, at Covent Garden as Ratcliffe (Billy Budd), and as Figaro at both the Volksoper Vienna and the Glyndebourne Festival. His repertoire also includes the title role in Handel’s Hercules, Colas (Bastien und Bastienne), Dulcamara (L’elisir d’amore), and Lord Sidney (Il viaggio a Reims). In 2013, he appeared at the Salzburg Festival as Osmin in Die Entführung aus dem Serail für Kinder and in Don Carlo under Antonio Pappano.
He has also appeared in concert in Seville, Prague, Basel, Krasnoyarsk, and Mallorca.
Peter Kellner is the recipient of the Independent Opera Fellowship of the Wigmore Hall Song Competition, the Second and Audience Prizes at the 2018 International Mozart Competition in Salzburg, and the First Prize at the Ferruccio Tagliavini International Competition in Deutschlandsberg.
He has collaborated with conductors such as Sir Antonio Pappano, Vasily Petrenko, Adam Fischer, Bertrand de Billy, Marco Armiliato, Ivor Bolton, and Friedrich Haider, and with orchestras including the Vienna Philharmonic, Camerata Salzburg, Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra, Bamberg Symphony, Košice State Philharmonic, and Graz Philharmonic.
Born in Slovakia, Peter Kellner studied at the Conservatory in Košice with M. Adamenko, at the Mozarteum Salzburg with B. Bakow, and completed his bachelor’s degree with A. Sol at the University of Music and Performing Arts Graz. He subsequently joined the ensembles of the Oldenburg State Theatre and later the Opera Graz.
2025/26