Wolfgang Holzmair | Baritone
Wolfgang Holzmair was born in Vöcklabruck, Austria, and studied at the Vienna Academy of Music and Dramatic Art with Hilde Rössel-Majdan and Erik Werba.
The singer performs in recital throughout the world, including London, Lisbon, New York, Washington, at the Risør Festival (Norway), Bath Festival (UK), Menuhin Festival (Switzerland) and the Bregenz Festival.
Holzmair is active in the opera world. He recently appeared as Papageno (Die Zauberflöte) and Eisenstein (Die Fledermaus) in Dallas, Faninal in Der Rosenkavalier in Seattle and Hong Kong, Don Alfonso (Così) in Lyon, the Music Master in Ariadne in Madrid, Wolfram (Tannhäuser) in Erfurt, Eduard (Neues vom Tage by Hindemith) in Ancona, Demetrius (A Midsummer Night’s Dream) in Toronto, the Father (Hansel and Gretel) on a Japan tour under Ozawa and Masino in Haydn’s La vera costanza in Cologne. In 2012 he will sing Agamemnon (Iphigenie in Aulis by Gluck/Wagner) in concert performances in Cologne and Paris.
Equally in demand on the concert platform, he has sung with leading European and American orchestras, such as the Israel Philharmonic, Berlin Philharmonic, Budapest Festival, Vienna Symphony, Leipzig Gewandhaus, Dresden Philharmonic Orchestra, Cleveland and Concertgebouw Orchestras and the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment, under eminent conductors including Blomstedt, Boulez, Chailly, Frühbeck de Burgos, Ivan Fischer, Haitink, Harnoncourt, Norrington and Ozawa. In 2012 Holzmair’s concert appearances include Mahler’s Lieder eines fahrenden Gesellen with the Tokyo Symphony and Faust in Schumann’s Scenes from Faust with the Bern Symphony Orchestra.
Holzmair has an extensive, critically acclaimed discography. His numerous recordings include lieder by Clara and Robert Schumann and Eichendorff songs by various composers, all with Imogen Cooper, Schubert recordings with Gérard Wyss, Songs from the British Isles with Trio Wanderer, Wolf songs with Imogen Cooper, Mahler with Russell Ryan, Pelléas et Mélisande with Haitink, and Brahms’s Ein deutsches Requiem with Herbert Blomstedt, which won a Grammy Award. For years he has also been a committed advocate of works by formerly persecuted composers such as Krenek, Mittler, Zeisl and Schreker.
Since 1998 he has taught lied and oratorio at the Mozarteum in Salzburg and given masterclasses in Europe and North America. He is also a visiting professor and fellow of the Royal College of Music (London).