Martin Gantner

The German baritone began the current season as Faninal at Amsterdam’s Dutch National Opera and will reprise this highly praised portrayal in Paris and Munich later this season. Other recent highlights include Pizarro/Fidelio (Vienna State Opera) and Eisenstein/Die Fledermaus (Dresden’s Semperoper). After winning first prize in Berlin’s prestigious VDMK competition, he made his operatic debut as Count Almaviva/ The Marriage of Figaro (Koblenz) and was subsequently invited to join the cast for the world premiere of Hans Werner Henze’s Das verratene Meer, later reprising the work at La Scala. Gantner joined the Bavarian State Opera’s ensemble from 1993 to 2007, singing roles as diverse as Mozart’s Papageno, Guglielmo, and Figaro, Rossini’s Dandini, Donizetti’s Malatesta, Puccini’s Ping and Marcello, Dr. Falke/Die Fledermaus, Silvio/ Pagliacci, Harlekin/Ariadne auf Naxos, and Ottokar/Der Freischütz. The baritone made his 2001 American debut in Los Angeles as the Herald/Lohengrin and sang his first Faninal in Cologne the following year. His extensive repertory further encompasses Jochanaan/Salome (St. Gallen, Mannheim, Salzburg Festival, Brussels), the Speaker/The Magic Flute (Salzburg, Paris), and Kurwenal/ Tristan and Isolde (Berlin, Antwerp, Florence). Among Gantner’s concert credits are Carmina Burana, Brahms’s Requiem, Bach’s St. Matthew Passion, Mendelssohn’s Elijah and St. Paul, and Britten’s War Requiem. His discography encompasses Salome, Così fan tutte, and Schumann’s Scenes from Goethe’s Faust. In 2005 Gantner was awarded the coveted rank of Kammersänger in Munich.

Previously at Lyric Opera: Faninal/ Der Rosenkavalier (2015|16); Dr. Falke/Die Fledermaus (2006|07).

Last updated: February 8, 2016