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About
Wolfgang Koch is currently one of the most important dramatic bass-baritones in the world of opera. He studied singing at the University of Music in Munich as well as with Josef Metternich, Gianni Raimondi and Leondino Ferri. Following his studies, he was engaged in the ensembles of the Stadttheater Bern, the Staatsoper Stuttgart and the Wiener Volksoper, where he celebrated numerous successes.
Highlights of Mr. Koch’s 2018/19 season include his portrayals of Jochanaan in Salome as well as Hans Sachs in Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg at the Bayerische Staatsoper München, Scarpia in Tosca at the Metropolitan Opera New York, and Barak in Die Frau ohne Schatten at the Staatsoper Hamburg and the Wiener Staatsoper. He will further perform the roll of Hans Sachs at the Staatsoper Berlin, and in August 2019 he will sing Amfortas in Parsifal at the Ravello Festival.
Notable highlights of the Mr. Koch’s 2017/18 season include a new production of Il trittico and Parsifal at the Bayerische Staatsoper München as well as a Ring-production (all under the baton of Kirill Petrenko), a Parsifal production at the Staatsoper Hamburg and a new production of Dantons Tod at the Wiener Staatsoper.
Mr. Koch is a regular guest at the state operas in Vienna, Hamburg, Berlin, Tokyo, at the Opéra National de Paris, the Royal Opera House Covent Garden in London, as well as at the Oper Frankfurt and the Theater an der Wien. He is particularly strongly linked to the Bayerische Staatsoper München, where he has appeared in many new productions and was named a “Kammersänger” in 2014. From 2013 to 2015 he sang Wotan at the Bayreuther Festspiele under the baton of Kirill Petrenko, and in 2011 he made his debut at the Salzburger Festspiele in Die Frau ohne Schatten, and 2013 at the Salzburger Osterfestspiele with Parsifal, each time with Christian Thielemann conducting.
Mr. Koch’s most important roles are: Barak (Frau ohne Schatten), Michele (Il tabarro), Scarpia (Tosca), Holländer (Der Fliegende Holländer), Wolfram von Eschenbach (Tannhäuser), Telramund (Lohengrin), Kurwenal (Tristan und Isolde), Hans Sachs (Meistersinger von Nürnberg), Wotan/Wanderer (Ring des Nibelungen), Amfortas (Parsifal), Jochanaan (Salome), Mandryka (Arabella), Der Graf (Capriccio), Pizarro (Fidelio), George Danton (Dantons Tod / G.v.Einem), Mathis (Mathis der Maler), Borromeo und Morone (Palestrina), Lear (Reimann), Doktor Faust (Busoni), etc.
In addition to his highly active operatic career, Mr. Koch is also a highly sought after concert singer. Much of his work is also captured on CD and DVD, including such recordings as Der Ring der Nibelungen from Hamburg (Alberich), the productions Lear (Reimann) and Palestrina (Pfitzner) from Frankfurt, Palestrina, Doktor Faust and Lohengrin from Munich, Parsifal and Frau ohne Schatten from Salzburg and Parsifal (Barenboim and Tcherniakov) from Berlin.