Michael Volle studied with Josef Metternich and Rudolf Piernay. After engagements at the opera houses in Mannheim, Bonn, Düsseldorf, and Cologne, he became a member of the ensembles at the Zurich Opera House and the Bavarian State Opera in Munich. In Zurich, he performed roles such as Marcello (La bohème), Eugene Onegin, Yeletsky (Pique Dame), Roland (Fierrabras), Sixtus Beckmesser, Hans Sachs (Meistersinger von Nürnberg), and Golaud (Pelléas et Mélisande). Guest appearances have taken him to all major opera houses at home and abroad (including Berlin, Munich, Hamburg, Dresden, London, Paris, Barcelona, Vienna, Milan, Florence, New York) and to prestigious festivals (such as Salzburg, Bregenz, Baden-Baden). At the Bayreuth Festival, he sang Beckmesser in 2007 and 2008, Hans Sachs in 2017, and the Dutchman in 2023. Most recently, he appeared at the Metropolitan Opera in New York, in Florence in the title role of Verdi’s Falstaff, and as Hans Sachs at the Vienna State Opera. In Milan, he impressed as Pater Ecstaticus in Mahler’s 8th Symphony and as Jochanaan in Salome. At the Hamburg State Opera, he shone alongside Klaus Florian Vogt in the role of Wolfram in Wagner’s Tannhäuser. In 2008 and 2023, the magazine Opernwelt named him “Singer of the Year.” For his interpretation of Wozzeck, he was awarded the German Theater Prize “Der Faust” in 2009. In recognition of his stage achievements, he received the award for “Best Male Singer” at the Oper! Awards 2023. At the Zurich Opera House, his recent roles include Wolfram in Tannhäuser (2012), the title role in Wagner’s Der fliegende Holländer (2016), Nabucco (2019), and Boris Godunov (2020).
4. April 2018
Michael Volle is not only known in Zurich as an interpreter of great Mozart, Wagner or Verdi roles, he has also often appeared on stage as a sensitive singer. Before spring sets in, the baritone interprets Franz Schubert's Winterreise together with the pianist Helmut Deutsch. The 24 songs based on poems by Wilhelm Müller are the climax of Schubert's lieder and at the same time the pinnacle of romantic song art.