Swiss baritone Manuel Walser studied voice under Thomas Quasthoff at the Hanns Eisler School of Music in Berlin and finished his studies in July 2015 with distinction. In addition to Thomas Quasthoff, some of his most important mentors and teachers are Brigitte Fassbaender, Frédéric Gindraux, and Wolfram Rieger. At the international song competition ‘Das Lied’ in Berlin, he received both 1st Place and the Audience Award in 2013. He is also a laureate of the Stella Maris International Vocal Competition and received the Armin Weltner Foundation Award in 2014.

Manuel Walser was a permanent member of the Vienna State Opera ensemble for five seasons until 2019, performing as Harlequin (Ariadne auf Naxos) under Cornelius Meister and Peter Schneider, as Schaunard (La Bohème) under Marco Armiliato, as Haly (L'Italiana in Algeri) under Evelino Pidò and as Hunter (Rusalka) under Tomáš Netopil. He sang Dancaïro (Carmen) under Frédéric Chaslin, Montano (Otello) under Myung-Whun Chung, Publio (La Clemenza di Tito) and Masetto (Don Giovanni) under Ádám Fischer, Alessio (La Sonnambula) under Gulliermo García Calvo and Cristiano (Un ballo in maschera) and Marullo (Rigoletto) under Jesús López Cobos. At the Salzburg Festival, he made his debut in 2014 as Brutamonte under Ingo Metzmacher in Schubert's opera Fierrabras. In January 2018, Manuel Walser made his debut at the Berlin State Opera Unter den Linden as Harlequin in Strauss' Ariadne on Naxos.

Manuel Walser has been a regular guest on the concert stage for a long time. He performs regularly at the J. S. Bach Foundation, where he sang numerous cantatas, some of which have also been recorded. Highlights of the past seasons include his interpretation of Christ in Bach's St Matthew Passion at the Verbier Festival under the baton of Thomas Quasthoff as well as with the Concertgebouw Orkest in Amsterdam under Ton Koopman. At the International Baroque Days in Melk Abbey he was heard in Handel's Oratorio Israel in Egypt with the Concentus Musicus under Christopher Moulds and as Francesco Benucci in the Singspiel Salomons Reise with selected Mozart arias under the baton of Rubén Dubrovsky. In 2017, he once again sang Salomons Reise at the Mozart Week Salzburg and performed as Don Pippo in the Mozart-Pasticcio Les Dilettants with the ensemble Pygmalion under conductor Raphaël Pichon in France.

Other highlights include Bach's Christmas Oratorio in the Wiener Konzerthaus with the Vienna Symphony Orchestra under Stefan Gottfried, Bach Cantatas and Bach's Mass in B minor with the Ensemble Pygmalion and Raphaël Pichon and the Concentus Musicus Wien under the direction of Stefan Gottfried. He furthermore received high acclaim for an operetta and opera arias program under Alfred Eschwé and Vinzenz Praxmarer at the traditional New Year's Concerts with the Tonkünstler-Orchester Niederösterreich, Bach's Cantata Ich habe genug and Mahler's Kindertotenlieder under Manfred Honeck in Tel Aviv and Haifa, as well as for Bach’s St. John Passion under Andreas Spering in Grafenegg.

Manuel Walser is passionately dedicated to the art of Lied. He can be heard regularly in recitals with Anano Gokieli, Alexander Fleischer, Malcolm Martineau, Akemi Murakami, Elisabeth Plank, Wolfram Rieger, Jonathan Ware and Justus Zeyen. He has given recitals in Barcelona, at the Schubert Festival in Gastein, the Easter Festival in Bayreuth, the Philharmonie in Paris, London's Wigmore Hall and the Schubertíada Vilabertran. He sang at the Lucerne Festival, the Berlin Philharmonic, the Festival Oxford Lieder, the Konzerthaus Berlin, the Salzburg Festival, the Wiener Musikverein, in Munich, Zurich and at the Schubertiaden Hohenems and Schwarzenberg.

Other highlights include the world premiere of the orchestrated version of Schubert's Winterreise by Massimiliano Matesic with the PreCollege Orchestra Zurich, as well as Brahms' Schöne Magelone with Thomas Quasthoff as orator in Hameln.

The Vienna Konzerthaus presents Manuel Walser in the season 2019-2020 in their series "Great Talent" with different concerts, showcasing his versatility as a singer. The program ranges from Schubert's Mass in E-flat major under Erwin Ortner, Beethoven's Scottish Songs with the Jess-Trio-Wien, a recital with the harpist Elisabeth Plank to Bach Cantatas with the J. S. Bach Foundation under Rudolf Lutz.

2019-2020 promises to be a strong concert season, although he started the new season as Dancaïro in Bizet's Carmen under Marco Armiliato at the Gstaad Festival. Other highlights include the complete Spanish Songbook by Hugo Wolf with Marie Seidler and Wolfram Rieger at the Schubertíada in Vilabertran, Mahler's Lieder eines fahrenden Gesellen in a chamber version by Arnold Schönberg at the Allegro Vivo festival, Heinichen's La gara degli dei with the Staatskapelle Dresden under Ton Koopman at the Semperoper Dresden, Schubert's Schwanengesang at the Schubertiade Hohenems, followed by Honegger's La Danse des Morts and Felix Mendelssohn’s The First Walpurgis Night in Zurich, Bach's Christmas Oratorio under Andreas Spering in Gothenburg and Bach's St John Passion in the Netherlands. Numerous performances of the German Requiem by Brahms will bring Manuel Walser to Pistoia, Perugia, Zurich and Aarau. In addition to ensemble recitals at the Musikverein Regensburg and the Schubertiade Schwarzenberg, Manuel Walser can be heard with various Lied programs at the Teatro de la Zarzuela in Madrid, in the Munich Lied series ‘Liederleben’, at the Kammermusik Basel and the ‘Rhonefestival für Liedkunst’.

http://www.manuel-walser.com

2019 | 2020

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