Matthias Goerne, baritone

Matthias Goerne is one of the most internationally sought-after vocalists and a frequent guest at renowned festivals and concert halls. He has collaborated with leading orchestras all over the world. Conductors of the first rank as well as eminent pianists are among his musical partners.

Since his opera début at the Salzburg Festival in 1997 (Papageno), Matthias Goerne has appeared on the world’s principal opera stages, including the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden; Teatro Real in Madrid; Paris National Opera; Vienna State Opera; and the Metropolitan Opera in New York. His roles range from Wolfram, Amfortas, Kurwenal, and Orest to the title roles in Alban Berg’s Wozzeck, Bartók’s Duke Bluebeard’s Castle, Paul Hindemithʼs Mathis der Maler, and Reimann’s Lear.

Goerne’s artistry has been documented on numerous recordings, many of which have received prestigious awards, including four Grammy nominations and an ICMA award. He currently is recording a series of selected Schubert songs for Harmonia Mundi (The Goerne/Schubert Edition on 11 CDs).

In the 2013/14 season, Goerne returns to the major opera houses and concert halls in Europe, the United States, and Asia. He opened this season with a concert at the Musikfest Berlin, where he sang Lutoslawski’s Les espaces du sommeil with the Philharmonia Orchestra conducted by Esa-Pekka Salonen, followed by a tour with the Mahler Chamber Orchestra, and several performances of Britten’s War Requiem with the London Philharmonic, the Boston Symphony, and the Chicago Symphony.

He appears as soloist with the National Symphony in Washington, D.C.; the Dallas Symphony; the Orchestre de Paris; the Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra; NHK Symphony Tokyo; the Hong Kong Philharmonic; and the National Philharmonic of Russia.

At the Vienna State Opera, Goerne has leading roles in three different opera productions: Kurwenal in Tristan and Isolde, Amfortas in Parsifal, and the title role in Berg’s Wozzeck.

In addition, Goerne appears in nearly forty recitals worldwide with six different programs ranging from Schubert to Berg, Shostakovich, and Eisler, with pianists Piotr Anderszewski, Leif Ove Andsnes, Christoph Eschenbach, Andreas Haefliger, and Alexander Schmalcz, including appearances at New York’s Carnegie Hall, the Chicago Symphony Center, the ThéaÌ‚tre des Champs-Élysées in Paris, and the Zurich Opera House. At both the Laeiszhalle in Hamburg and the KIOI Hall in Tokyo, Goerne will perform Schubert’s song cycles on three evenings. In the summer of 2014, Goerne sings Schubert’s Winterreise at the Vienna Festival and the Festival in Aix-en-Provence at a film installation by South African artist William Kentridge.

From 2001 through 2005, Matthias Goerne taught as an honorary professor of song interpretation at the Robert Schumann Academy of Music in Düsseldorf. In 2001, he was appointed an Honorary Member of the Royal Academy of Music in London.

A native of Weimar, he studied with Hans-Joachim Beyer in Leipzig, and later with Elisabeth Schwarzkopf and Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau.