Matthias Goerne

Celebrated around the globe for his opera and concert performances, German baritone Matthias Goerne is a frequent guest with leading orchestras and renowned festivals and concert halls. Among his musical partners are conductors of the first rank such as Claudio Abbado(†), Herbert Blomstedt, Riccardo Chailly, Christoph von Dohnányi, Gustavo Dudamel, Christoph Eschenbach, Daniele Gatti, Valery Gergiev, Bernard Haitink, Manfred Honeck, Mariss Jansons(†), Neeme Järvi, Paavo Järvi, Vladimir Jurowski, Yannick Nézet-Séguin, Seiji Ozawa, Antonio Pappano, Kirill Petrenko, Simon Rattle, Esa-Pekka Salonen and Franz Welser-Möst.

Matthias Goerne has appeared on the world’s principal opera stages, including the the Metropolitan Opera in New York, the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden; Teatro Real in Madrid; Paris National Opera; Bayerische Staatsoper Munich, and the Vienna State Opera. His carefully chosen roles range from Amfortas, Marke, Wolfram, Wotan, Orest, and Jochanaan to the title roles in Béla Bartók’s Duke Bluebeard’s Castle and Alban Berg’s Wozzeck.

Goerne’s artistry has been documented on numerous recordings, many of which have received rave reviews and prestigious awards, including five Grammy nominations, an ICMA award, a Gramophone Award, the BBC Music Magazine Vocal Award 2017, Diapason d’or arte, and the ECHO Klassik 2017 in the category singer of the year. In 2021 and 2022 he released three albums with Deutsche Grammophon: Beethoven Songs with Jan Lisiecki; a collection of Wagner, Strauss and Pfitzner Songs with Seong-Jin Cho and his new album of Schumann and Brahms Songs with Daniil Trifonov, which was just awarded “Vocal Recording of the Year” by Limelight. He is featured as Wotan on the Naxos release of the entire Ring Cycle with the Hong Kong Philharmonic and conductor Jaap van Zweden. His latest album “Schubert revisited” was released in January 2023 by Deutsche Grammophon, which brings the composer’s songs to life in arrangements for voice and orchestra.

In 2001, he was appointed an Honorary Member of the Royal Academy of Music in London. A native of Weimar, he studied with Hans-Joachim Beyer in Leipzig, and later with Elisabeth Schwarzkopf and Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau. In the 2017/18 season, Matthias Goerne was artist of residence at Hamburg Elbphilharmonie, and The New York Philharmonic named him as Artist-in-Residence for their 2018/19 season.

Highlights of the past season included concerts with the Amsterdam Concertgebouw Orchestra conducted by Jaap van Zweden, the Orchestre National de France under Cristian Măcelaru, the Boston Symphony under Antonio Pappano, the Munich Philharmonic under Paavo Järvi, and recitals with Christoph Eschenbach, Seong-Jin Cho, Markus Hinterhäuser, Alexandre Kantorow and Daniil Trifonov. At the Berlin State Opera Matthias Goerne performed the role of Sarastro and at the Liceu in Barcelona the title role in A. Berg's Wozzeck. In the summer of 2022, he sang the role of Wotan with the Los Angeles Philharmonic under Gustavo Dudamel at the Hollywood Bowl in a production by Yuval Sharon. He also appeared at the Ravinia Festival with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra and at the Salzburg Festival.

Season highlights in the 2022/23 season include concerts with the NDR Elbphilharmonie Orchestra as well as the Orchestre National de France conducted by Andrés Orozco-Estrada, the Vienna Symphony Orchestra under Christoph Eschenbach, the Deutsche Kammerphilharmonie Bremen as well as the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra under Manfred Honeck, and a tour of Asia with the Dallas Symphony Orchestra under Fabio Luisi. Matthias Goerne will perform the role of Marke in Toulouse as well as the role of Amfortas at the Liceu Barcelona. Recitals with Leif Ove Andsnes, Markus Hinterhäuser and Víkingur Ólafsson will take him to Paris, London and Florence, among other cities.