Thomas Weinhappel

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Thomas Weinhappel (born August 30, 1980 in Stockerau ) is an Austrian opera singer ( baritone ).

Thomas Weinhappel (2017)

Life

The Lower Austrian baritone toured Germany , England , Canada , Sweden , South America and the United States as an alto soloist with the Vienna Boys' Choir . After graduating from the Musikgymnasium Vienna , he studied at the Conservatory of the City of Vienna and at the University of Music and Performing Arts . He graduated in 2007 with the title “ Master of Arts ”. He completed further master classes and vocal studies with Walter Berry , Barbara Bonney , Gundula Janowitz , Norman Shetler and Eva Blahova . Since 2019 he has continued his artistic work with Heidrun Franz-Vetter in Berlin.

Michael Haneke was the first to discover Weinhappels talent "to make people out of roles". He sang songs from Schubert's Winterreise in Haneke's 2001 film, The Piano Player , which won three golden palms in Cannes . Weinhappel worked with directors such as Christoph Schlingensief , Josef E. Köpplinger and Otto Schenk ; he developed a broad repertoire of operas, operettas, musicals and lieder, which extends to contemporary works.

Weinhappel made his stage debut at the Stadttheater Bern in the role of Leonetto in Boccaccio by Franz von Suppè . Further appearances followed at the St. Margarethen Opera Festival , at the city theaters of St. Gallen , Klagenfurt , Baden and at the Vorarlberger Landestheater . In 2006 he sang Amfortas in excerpts from Wagner's Parsifal in the readymade opera Mea Culpa by Christoph Schlingensief . In 2016 he made his debut at the Bregenz Festival in the stage version of the State Operetta by Otto M. Zykan .

His recitals have taken him to Australia , Germany , Switzerland , Turkey and Venezuela . He gave concerts with Robert Holl and Robert Lehrbaumer in Altenburg Abbey , in the Wiener Konzerthaus and at the Carinthian Summer ; Roger Vignoles accompanied him to recitals in London .

In March 2017, Thomas Weinhappel was the first Austrian to receive the highest Czech music award, the “Thalia Award” and thus the title “Best Opera Singer of the Year 2016” for his interpretation of the title role in Hamlet by Ambroise Thomas .

Shortly after the “Thalia Award”, in November 2017 he received the “Libuska for the extraordinary role design” of his Hamlet, the second highest Czech music award from the jury of critics at the OPERA 2017 music festival in Prague, which has been taking place since 1993. In 2018 he made his debut as Figaro in Rossini's The Barber of Seville .

Reviews (selection)

  • Die Oberbadische, September 28, 2016, G. Driesch: “The voice of Thomas Weinhappel is baritone on the one hand, but also has a tenoral beam. Due to his large vocal range, he easily switches between baritone and tenor parts in his operetta numbers. "
  • Lidové noviny, March 14, 2016, H. Havlíková: "The Ostrava Opera succeeded in finding the ideal representative of Hamlet in the Austrian baritone Thomas Weinhappel."
  • Divadelni noviny, March 15, 2016, J. Herman: “Weinhappel made Hamlet… a torn romantic like out of a textbook. I had to get used to the timbre of his voice that got under the skin, but the result was exclusive. "
  • Ostravan.cz, March 4th, 2016, M. Bátor: “The premiere on Thursday brought rousing performances by Thomas Weinhappel, ... he really played his role in the premiere in a masterly manner. With vocal brilliance and theatrical expressiveness, he dominated the stage from beginning to end. "
  • Der Neue Merker, December 27, 2017, R. Holzer: “The often radiant, now and then tenorally colored and sophisticated voice of the young Austrian has innumerable shades, which he uses sublimely in harmony with the meaning of the word paired with flawless articulation. Weinhappel is one of that small group of singers who not only sing the cycle in an unobtrusive manner and full of honest emotions in an extremely differentiated manner and, of course, also sing it by heart, but also portray it with convincing facial expressions and subtle gestures. "
  • Opera +, January 21, 2018, J. Fuchs: “The cultivated, melodious, tenorally tinged lyrical baritone with an astonishing vocal range masters both sophisticated phrasing and a lot of dynamics. The soft character of the voice with pleasant timbre is capable of remarkable modulation. He tunes beautiful and well targeted decrescendo from forte to pianissimo with delicate details…. His dynamic game, which is characterized by great flexibility in movement, is incredibly sensitive. With his expression, his attention to dynamics and his acting interpretation, the bard with the advantageous appearance is almost predestined for this great role of the romantic opera. "
  • Der Neue Merker, February 14, 2018, R. Publig: “With his noble, technically clean baritone voice, he not only offers the audience a narration of the story of the abandoned young man; he experiences it in the moment and lets the audience take part in this soul show that has become sonorous.Weinhappel convinces with a safe high, but above all its rich low register comes into its own impressively ... Weinhappel has dealt very thoroughly with this cycle and discovered facets that one can not often heard in this form - and thanks to his technology he manages to translate these nuances into a sound. He is the singer who communicates the story to the audience "
  • Der Neue Merker, April 15, 2018, K. Masek: “Thomas Weinhappel soon proves to be a versatile singer with a big stage presence. ... the musical journey across the “opera fan”, so to speak a hit parade from Mozart to Korngold and Ambroise Thomas, ending with Wagner and Verdi, proves impressively: There is someone “at home” in all styles. The register mixes with technically well-placed "Voix mixte", the powerful increases, but also deliberately pale tones ... "
  • IOCO, April 26, 2018, M. Haimerl: “... already with Figaro's aria“ Non piu andrai ”it was clear that this would not be a normal aria evening. Thomas Weinhappel never limits himself to standing next to the piano and singing, he stages the arias and lives them. Colorful and lively ... incredibly sensitive. And with the champagne aria, the baritone proves that the palette of his expressiveness is richly endowed. At this point the enthusiastic audience asked itself why the Austrian baritone Thomas Weinhappel cannot be heard on the big stages of Vienna. "

Repertoire (selection)

Opera

Operetta (musical)

Oratorio

song

Discography

  • 2004: Mass No. 5 in A flat major for four solos, choir and orchestra by Franz Schubert
  • 2006: Imperial sounds from Old Vienna by Carl Michael Ziehrer
  • 2013: Take care when in your heart to stimulate it from a great girl by Carl Michael Ziehrer
  • 2013: Once again, flourishes in May from a great girl by Carl Michael Ziehrer
  • 2013: Walked in from The Estimator by Carl Michael Ziehrer

Filmography

Awards

  • 2017: 24th “Thalia Award” for best male opera singer 2016 in the Prague State Opera
  • 2017: “Libuska for extraordinary role design” by the jury of critics of the OPERA 2017 festival in Prague

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Thomas Weinhappel: Curriculum Vitae. (PDF; 1.8 MB) In: thomasweinhappel.com. November 12, 2017 .;
  2. ↑ biography. Thomas Weinhappel. In: thomasweinhappel.com. Retrieved March 25, 2020 .
  3. ↑ repertoire. Thomas Weinhappel. In: thomasweinhappel.com. Retrieved March 25, 2020 .
  4. ^ Festival Opera. Retrieved November 13, 2017 .
  5. ↑ The Barber of Seville. Retrieved May 21, 2018 .
  6. ↑ From the Danube via Spain to the Black Forest. Retrieved December 29, 2017 .
  7. ↑ hamlet-recenze-1457969074.pdf. Retrieved December 29, 2017 .
  8. ↑ hamletovska-love-story. Retrieved December 29, 2017 .
  9. ↑ byt-ci-nebyt. Retrieved December 29, 2017 .
  10. ↑ wien-honorable-hall. Retrieved December 29, 2017 .
  11. ↑ Thomas Hamlet. Retrieved May 21, 2018 .
  12. ↑ THE WINTER JOURNEY with Thomas Weinhappel. Retrieved May 21, 2018 .
  13. ↑ Vienna Borromaeussaal. Retrieved May 21, 2018 .
  14. ↑ thomas-weinhappel-musical-portrait. Retrieved May 21, 2018 .
  15. ↑ Program information from ORF , accessed on March 26, 2017
personal data
SURNAME Weinhappel, Thomas
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Austrian opera singer (baritone)
DATE OF BIRTH August 30, 1980
PLACE OF BIRTH Stockerau