Wolfgang Neumann (singer)

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Wolfgang Neumann (born June 20, 1945 in Waiern , Austria) is an Austro-German opera singer (tenor). He is one of the most important Wagner singers ( Heldentenor ). Only a few heroic tenors succeeded like him in keeping Richard Wagner's difficult heroic roles in the active repertoire for almost three decades.

His repertoire mainly includes the great tenor roles in the operas of Richard Wagner and Richard Strauss , which he sings at the Nationaltheater Mannheim and with which he has made guest appearances at the most important opera stages in the world ( Deutsche Oper Berlin , Bavarian State Opera , Paris Opera , Royal Opera House , Vienna State Opera , Teatro alla Scala , Metropolitan Opera , Bayreuth Festival ). At the New York Met he made several guest appearances as Siegfried ( Siegfried and Götterdämmerung ) and in 2001 in the opening premiere as drum major (in Bergs Wozzeck ) and later as Aegisth (in Strauss' Elektra ).

Life

He studied singing with Erwin Röttgen in Essen and with Friedrich Brenn, Ulrich Rapp and Wolfgang Bständig in Duisburg. In the following years he had engagements as a baritone in Rendsburg and Oberhausen, but then went through a change of subject to tenor and made his debut in 1971 in tenor at the Stadttheater Bielefeld in the role of Max im Freischütz . In 1978 he moved to the Stadttheater Augsburg . From 1980 to 2010 he was the first hero tenor in the ensemble of the Mannheim National Theater . Guest performance contracts connect him with the State Operas of Munich (since 1981), Hamburg (since 1982) and Vienna (since 1982).

His guest performances established his reputation as a Wagner interpreter: he appeared at the Brussels Opera House La Monnaie / De Munt , at the Zurich Opera House , at the Oslo Opera (1981 in the Norwegian premiere of Wagner's Tristan und Isolde in the male title role), at the Deutsche Oper Berlin , at the Teatro San Carlos Lisbon , at the Teatro Liceu Barcelona (among others in the premiere of Schönberg's Moses und Aron ), at the operas of Dallas, Santiago de Chile, Monte Carlo, at the Teatro Comunale di Bologna , Marseille, on Teatro Bellini, Catania, at the Maggio Musicale Fiorentino and at the Teatro Comunale in Florence. In 1988 she made her debut at the Metropolitan Opera with the role of Siegfried in the Ring des Nibelungen .

In 1990 he took part in concert performances of Wagner's Rienzi in the title role at the Teatro Colón, and in 1989 he took over the role of Cardinal Albrecht in Mathis der Maler by Paul Hindemith at the Munich Opera Festival . In 1994 he sang Siegfried in the Ring Cycle at the Badisches Staatstheater in Karlsruhe, the title role in Tannhäuser at the Bayreuth Festival in 1995 , which he also performed at the Leipzig Opera , and in 1995 Aron in Moses and Aron von Schönberg and at the Vienna State Opera 1996/1997 at the Saarland State Theater Walther von Stolzing in Wagner's Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg . In recent years, in addition to his Wagner interpretations, he has increasingly appeared in character roles (Loge, Herodes, Aegisth, Schuiski and others).

On July 30, 2010, he retired as a member of the ensemble at the Mannheim National Theater after a performance of Götterdämmerung . In this performance, at the age of 65, he performed the role of Siegfried, after three days before he had interpreted the role of young Siegfried in the opera of the same name. From now on he only works as a freelancer.

His concert repertoire primarily includes tasks in works such as Arnold Schönberg's Gurre-Lieder or the Lied von der Erde by Gustav Mahler .

On July 5, 2019, at the end of a performance of Offenbach's Orpheus in the Underworld , Wolfgang Neumann was made an honorary member of the Mannheim National Theater.

Repertoire (selection)

Discography (selection)

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Tenor Wolfgang Neumann becomes an honorary member of the Mannheim National Theater on klassik.com, accessed on July 8, 2019.
personal data
SURNAME Neumann, Wolfgang
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Austrian-German opera singer (tenor)
DATE OF BIRTH June 20, 1945
PLACE OF BIRTH Waiern , Austria