Thomas Franke (singer)

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Thomas Franke (* around 1970 in East Berlin ) is a German opera singer ( bass baritone ), concert singer and designer .

Life

Training and opera

Franke, born and raised in East Berlin, was a member of the children's choir of the Berlin State Opera from 1977 to 1982 . From 1989 to 1993 he studied singing at the Carl Maria von Weber Academy of Music in Dresden , from which he graduated with distinction and a diploma. He had permanent engagements at the Volkstheater Rostock (1992–1993), the Komische Oper Berlin (1993–1995), the Theater Lübeck (1995–2002) and the Theater Lüneburg (2002–2003).

Franke sang numerous small and medium-sized roles in his permanent engagements (Nachtwächter in Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg , Count von Ceprano in Rigoletto , Hermann in Hoffmanns Erzählungen ; all Lübeck); he also took on roles in operettas and musicals . Important leading roles were Basilio in Der Barbier von Sevilla (2002, Theater Lüneburg), Speaker and Sarastro in Die Zauberflöte (2003, Young Music Theater Hamburg), Kaspar and Eremit in Der Freischütz (2003, Konzertante Oper Hamburg) and Leporello in Don Giovanni (2004 , Seelze Music Festival).

Since 1998 he has had guest appearances at the Hamburg State Opera , Theater Bremen , State Theater Oldenburg , Opera Ireland in Dublin (2002, as Schmidt and steward in Andrea Chénier ), at the Neuköllner Oper in Berlin (2005), at the State Theater Hanover ( 2005) and at the Musiktheater im Revier in Gelsenkirchen (2006/2007; as Haly in Die Italienerin in Algier ).

He appeared at the Eutin Festival (1997–1999), at the Bad Orb Opera Academy (2003, as Lord Syndham in Zar und Zimmermann ) and at the Bad Hersfeld Festival (2004, as Basilio in Der Barbier von Sevilla ).

He had further engagements as a singer in independent opera productions in Hamburg, Berlin and New York City . He has sung roles in New York such as Papageno in Die Zauberflöte (2005, Vertical Player Repertory Brooklyn), Ramphis in Aida , Mephisto in Faust (both 2006, Amato Opera New York City) and the title role in Don Giovanni (2008, Amadeus Opera, Long Iceland).

Song and concert

Franke also appeared as a concert singer and specialized in the field of art songs . The focus of his concert repertoire is, among others, the song cycles by Franz Schubert . He sang Schubert's song cycle Die Schöne Müllerin among others in October 2006 at the Bad Kösener Musikherbst. Franke's repertoire includes over 60 roles and roles. He had concert appearances in Italy , Austria , Luxembourg , Greece , Canada and Japan . In 2002 he was a contributor to the Festival d'Aix-en-Provence and the Athens Festival. Franke took part in several television and radio recordings (including ARTE and RTÉ music).

In 2004 he founded the LIEDERGALERIE , a concert series for classical song. Between 2004 and 2008 he produced over 400 concerts under the LIEDERGALERIE label in Hamburg, Berlin, New York and Vienna . He included various other art forms such as acting , video and painting in his production. He worked for six years in Hamburg as a producer, art director and screenwriter. In 2004 Tom Franke took over the artistic direction of the concerts in the Jenisch House in Hamburg; In 2005 he took over the management of a series of projects at the Hotel Baseler Hof in Hamburg. The most important and outstanding projects included a. the "longest winter trip of all time"; in December 2007, Schubert's song cycle was interpreted 24 times in a row by Franke at 24 different locations. Other important projects of his own are the BARITONALE , a song festival exclusively for baritone voices and the arrangement of Schubert's Winterreise for 12 baritones .

social commitment

His individual projects received strong press and public attention. Hamburg Mayor Ole von Beust, Hamburg Senator for Culture Karin von Welck and Minister for Labor and Social Affairs Olaf Scholz supported his projects with patronage, greetings and letters of thanks. His last Hamburg project, the BENEFIZE ADVENT CALENDAR , brought in more than 150,000 euros for over 70 social institutions and foundations. All projects were financed by Franke from private funds. In 2009, further financing from private funds was impossible; Franke finished his artistic work in Hamburg and temporarily left Germany.

Designer and directing work

From 2009 to 2011 Franke lived in Canada and the USA, where he dealt with film , nature and design . In 2011 he returned to Berlin, where he graduated from the Technical Art School with a Master of Art and Design. Franke specializes in interaction design, light, sound and motion design. Tom Franke works internationally as a freelance innovator, sound and light designer as well as director, producer and supervisor for various projects in the fields of music, art, design and stage. His current work is strongly oriented towards nature and environmental protection . In 2012 Franke designed his first own collection of Lightart objects under the new Kingsdream label . In 2015 the label for media projects was expanded under Kingsdream production .

Tom Franke lives in Berlin-Mitte .

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c Thomas Franke - bass baritone ( Memento of the original from February 6, 2016 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link has been inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. Vita at artistworld.org (English). Retrieved May 29, 2012 @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.artistworld.org
  2. ↑ Wipe - No Vision  ( page no longer available , search in web archives )  Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. (PDF; 285 kB) Press kit (with vita of Thomas Franke)@1@ 2Template: Toter Link / www.neukoellneroper.de  
  3. ↑ a b c d Thomas Franke Vita (Kulturserver NRW)
  4. ↑ Good morning, beautiful miller as a special greeting  ( page no longer available , search in web archives )  Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. (PDF; 216 kB) Review in: Mitteldeutsche Zeitung of October 10, 2006@1@ 2Template: Toter Link / www.su-musik.de  
  5. ↑ THE LONGEST WINTER JOURNEY EVER (Benefit Advent Calendar 2007)
  6. ↑ taz.de: "Music should be a playground". Retrieved on May 29, 2012
personal data
SURNAME Franke, Thomas
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German opera singer (bass baritone), concert singer and designer
DATE OF BIRTH around 1970
PLACE OF BIRTH East Berlin