Albert Dohmen can look back on a long international career, the first highlight of which was his Wozzeck at the Salzburg Easter and Summer Festivals in 1997 with the Berlin and Vienna Philharmonic Orchestras under the baton of Claudio Abbado and directed by Peter Stein. He subsequently worked with renowned conductors such as Zubin Mehta, Giuseppe Sinopoli, Claudio Abbado, James Levine, Christian Thielemann, Georges Prêtre, Kurt Masur, and Lorin Maazel.
He has interpreted the great roles of the dramatic baritone repertoire (including Kurwenal, Pizarro, Amfortas, the Dutchman, Scarpia, Bluebeard, Hans Sachs) at major international theaters such as the Opéra National de Paris, the Royal Opera House in London, the Bavarian State Opera in Munich, the Zurich Opera House, the Dutch National Opera in Amsterdam, the Gran Teatre del Liceu in Barcelona, the Vienna State Opera, the LA Opera, and others. Albert Dohmen made his debut at the New York Metropolitan Opera as Jochanaan (Salome).
He also established himself as one of the leading Wotans of his generation. He has sung this role in complete Ring Cycles in Trieste, Geneva, Catania, Amsterdam, at the Deutsche Oper Berlin and the Vienna State Opera, as well as at the Metropolitan Opera in New York, to name but a few.
Albert Dohmen made his debut at the Bayreuth Festival in 2007 as Wotan/Wanderer in Der Ring des Nibelungen and continued to sing these roles in subsequent years of the production. In the Ring Cycles from 2015 to 2018, he sang Alberich there. At the 2022 Bayreuth Festival, after his transition to bass repertoire, he appeared as Hagen (Götterdämmerung) and made his debut as Landgrave Hermann (Tannhäuser).
He sang Hans Sachs (Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg) in Geneva and Barcelona, Barak (Die Frau ohne Schatten) in Florence, Orest (Elektra) in Baden-Baden, Jochanaan (Salome) in Amsterdam, Falstaff in Stuttgart, Commendatore (Don Giovanni) at the Vienna State Opera, Kaspar (Der Freischütz) at the Semperoper Dresden, and the Music Teacher (Ariadne auf Naxos) at the Hamburg State Opera.
Highlights of his Wagnarian bass-repertoire include Gurnemanz (Parsifal) in Geneva and under Josep Pons at the mythical original location, the monastery of Montserrat, Daland (The Flying Dutchman) in Trieste, Luxembourg, and Brussels, König Marke (Tristan und Isolde) in Vienna, Barcelona, Bologna, and Auckland, Pogner (Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg) at the Teatro alla Scala in Milan, as well as Hunding (Die Walküre) at the Wagner Days in Budapest and Hagen (Götterdämmerung) in Budapest, London, and Vienna.
Albert Dohmen is also very successful on the concert stage, singing a wide-ranging repertoire from Bach to Schoenberg in almost all major concert halls and at international festivals. Notable performances include Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony with the New York Philharmonic Orchestra under Kurt Masur, Brahms’ Ein deutsches Requiem, also under Kurt Masur at the St. Denis Festival, Mahler’s Eighth Symphony under Valery Gergiev, as well as Gurre-Lieder and Beethoven’s Ninth under James Levine. In 2021, Albert Dohmen received a special honor when he was invited to sing Shostakovich’s Symphony No. 13 with the DSO Berlin under the baton of Thomas Sanderling in a concert organized by the Babi Yar Holocaust Memorial. Most recently, he sang with the Munich Philharmonic under Lorenzo Viotti in Rachmaninoff’s The Bells, as well as Verdi’s Messa da Requiem in Hamburg, Bremen, and Zurich.
In the 2025/26 season, he will appear as Teiresias (Oedipus Rex) under Lorenzo Viotti at the Salzburg Festival, Daland (Der fliegende Holländer) at the Opéra de Monte-Carlo, Gurnemanz (Parsifal) in a new production at Opera Vlaanderen and at the Vienna Festival Weeks, and as Titurel (Parsifal) in a new production at the Semperoper Dresden, as well as in numerous concerts, including Mahler’s Eighth Symphony at the Gran Teatre del Liceu in Barcelona under Josep Pons and Liszt’s Legend of St. Elizabeth under Hansjörg Albrecht at the Elbphilharmonie Hamburg.
In addition, he is a passionate recitalist and has performed various programs in the world’s most renowned concert halls.
Among the numerous CDs documenting his artistic work, particular mention should be made of his recordings of Zemlinsky’s Florentine Tragedy with the Concertgebouw Orchestra under Riccardo Chailly and his three recordings under Sir Georg Solti (Die Frau ohne Schatten, Fidelio, and Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg).
September 2025 – For the most recent biography, please contact Nicola Kamphausen