Franz Grundheber - Baritone/Bass
Biography
Franz Grundheber was born in Trier. After High School he started vocal studies with Margaret Harshaw at Indiana University in Bloomington / USA. In 1966, Rolf Liebermann engaged him to Hamburg State Opera to which he is still connected with a guest contract. On the occasion of his 40 years stage jubilee, Franz Grundheber was appointed honorary member of the Hamburg State Opera. In the Opera's repertoire of forthcoming seasons he will sing Rigoletto, Jago, Scarpia, Flying Dutchman, Orest, Barak and Simon Boccanegra. With the latter he recently had an outstanding success (conductor: Simone Young). With Simone Young he will also sing Gérard in Andrea Chénier in 2010. In Germany, he will mostly appear in guest performances at Semperoper Dresden (Amfortas, Jago and Macbeth) and at Deutsche Oper Berlin (Flying Dutchman, Scarpia, Michele (Il tabarro).
The Vienna State Opera, where is the centre of his artistic activities since many years, as well as the Hamburg State Opera conferred on him the title of "Kammersänger". Since 1976, he sang in new productions at Vienna State Opera Wozzeck, Orest, Cardillac, Borromeo and recently Dr. Schön, Le villi and Moses. In addition, out of his large repertoire, from Rigoletto, Jago, Macbeth, Amonasro and Scarpia to Amfortas, Flying Dutchman, Kurwenal, Barak, Mandryka and Jochanaan. Contracts are running until 2010. At Salzburg Easter and Summer Festivals he was most successful as Scarpia (under Herbert von Karajan), Jupiter/Die Liebe der Danae, Olivier, Orest, Amfortas, Faninal and Sprecher/Magic Flute. He will return to Salzburg also in 2008.
In Europe, Franz Grundheber has been performing his repertoire in Paris at Palais Garnier, Théâtre du Châtelet and Opéra Bastille, where he will appear as Cardillac in 2008, in Barcelona, Madrid (again as Moses in 2009), Oviedo, Athens, Rome, Milan/La Scala (Wozzeck) and Arena di Verona (where he was the first German to sing Amonasro in Aida), Florence and Torino; furthermore in Copenhagen, Helsinki, Savonlinna, Moscow, Brussels and Amsterdam. After his acclaimed appearances as Barak, Rigoletto and Simon Boccanegra at Covent Garden Opera London, he will return thereto as Rigoletto in 2007.
His guest appearances in the United States include Los Angeles, San Francisco, Chicago Lyric Opera, Houston, Philadelphia and the Metropolitan Opera, where he sang Wozzeck and Rigoletto (the first German to singthis role there).
For his Simon Boccanegra in Santiago de Chile, he got the Chilean Critics' Award for International Opera 2001, and he returned thereto in the following year to perform Scarpia.
In season 2002/03, on his fifth tour to Japan, Franz Grundheber appeared as Amfortas/Parsifal in Tokyo, and recently he performed Orest/Elektra at Tokyo Opera Nomori and Schönberg’s Gurrelieder at the Saito Kinen Festival.
Besides of numerous other recordings, Franz Grundheber's Wozzeck by Alban Berg in two different recordings under Claudio Abbado and Daniel Barenboim were especially awarded (Prix Georges Till). He also recorded the major roles of the Strauss repertoire such as Olivier, Faninal, Mandryka, Jupiter, Barak, and lastly Orest with Semyon Bychkov conducting.
In the concert and recital field he has sung many concerts with conductors such as for instance Herbert von Karajan, Kurt Masur, Seiji Ozawa, Colin Davis, Giuseppe Sinopoli, Claudio Abbado and Semyon Bychkov.
Last updated: 24.07.2007© We kindly ask you to seek our approval for any alteration or abbreviation of the biography. Thank you for your kind understanding.