“One of the greatest singers performing today”
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 the past two years, he has 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 Artist-in-Residence for their 2018/19 season.
Highlights of the past 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 performed 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 took take him to Paris, London and Florence, among other cities.
In the 23/24 season, Matthias Goerne will make his debut as Boris Godunov in Toulouse and in Paris and perform a series of recitals with Evgeny Kissin in Europe and the United States. He is premiering Jörg Widmann’s Schumannliebe at Porto’s Casa da Musica, Cologne Philharmonie and Hamburg’s Elbphilharmonie. Furthermore, he will appear with the Concertgebouworkest Amsterdam and Antonio Pappano as well as the NDR Elbphilharmonie Orchestra and perform Britten’s War Requiem on tour throughout Germany with the SWR Symphonieorchester.