© Dominik Stixenberger
© Dominik Stixenberger

Günther Groissböck

– World management –

Austrian bass Günther Groissböck has established himself as one of the most sought-after singers in his Fach. After having finished studying at the University of Music and Performing Arts in Vienna, he was first an ensemble member at the Vienna State Opera and later at the Zurich Opera House, from where his international career took off.

 

He is regularly invited to the most important opera stages, such as the Metropolitan Opera New York, the Opera National de Paris, La Scala in Milan, the Liceu in Barcelona, the Bavarian State Opera, the Semperoper Dresden, the Deutsche Oper and the Staatsoper Berlin, the Arena di Verona and the Bayreuth Festival, and works with conductors such as Zubin Mehta, Christian Thielemann, Kirill Petrenko, Andris Nelsons, Antonio Pappano and Philippe Jordan, to name but a few.

 

Günther Groissböck continues to be closely associated with the Vienna State Opera. The 2023/ 24 season sees him on this stage in various productions that give an idea of his wide-ranging repertoire. He will appear in Daphne, Die Zauberflöte, La Bohème, Tristan und Isolde, Parsifal and Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg. Further engagements take him to La Scala in Milan with a new production of Amore dei tre re (musical director Pinchas Steinberg), as Gurnemanz (Parsifal) to the Deutsche Oper Berlin and as Baron Ochs (Rosenkavalier) and King Heinrich (Lohengrin) to the Staatsoper unter den Linden. He sings the role of Boris Ismailov in concert performances of Lady Macbeth of Mzsensk in Boston with the Boston Symphony Orchestra and at New York’s Carnegie Hall under the baton of Andris Nelons. The season is complemented by various concert engagements, including concerts with the Vienna Philharmonic under Riccardo Muti and recitals, including at the Vienna Musikverein, London’s Wigmore Hall and Hamburg’s Elbphilharmonie, and ends with the Bayreuth Festival (King Marke, Tristan und Isolde), which has also become a regular event in his calendar for many years.

 

Günther Groissböck is known for the expressive interpretation of his roles, first and foremost Baron Ochs in Der Rosenkavalier, which has become one of his parade roles and with which he delights audiences time and again. His repertoire also includes German roles, in particular Wagner and Strauss roles such as Daland (Der Fliegende Holländer), Landgraf (Tannhäuser), Fafner and Fasolt (Rheingold), Hagen (Götterdämmerung), Heinrich (Lohengrin), Pogner (Meistersinger), Gurnemanz (Parsifal), Marke (Tristan und Isolde), Orest (Elektra), but also roles of the Italian and Slavic repertoire such as Filippo (Don Carlo), Ramfis (Aida), Boris (Lady Mcbeth of Mzensk), Gremin (Eugene Onegin) or Wassermann (Rusalka).

 

In addition to his engagements in orchestral concerts, a further focus of his artistic work is lied singing, to which he devotes himself with great passion. He presents his Lied programmes, often accompanied by Julius Drake or Malcom Martineau, for example in Munich, Vienna and Milan. The current album “Nicht Wiedersehen!” with songs by Mahler, Strauss and Hans Rott, which he recorded together with Malcom Martineau, was awarded the Choc de Classica. He remains faitful to his Austrian roots in a very special way; thus concerts and recordings repeatedly bring him together with the Philharmonia Schrammeln, with whom he interprets Viennese songs.

 

In 2021, the versatile artist took on a new challenge and staged himself for the first time at the Theater an der Wien in the production Tristan Experiment. The next project as a stage director was not long in coming. His production of Don Carlo at the Klosterneuburg Opera in the summer of 2023 was enthusiastically received by audiences and press alike.

 

An extensive discography and videography testify to Günther Groissböck’s versatile work. His new song album “Männerliebe und -leben”, on which he is already working with Malcom Martineau, is eagerly awaited. The release date has not yet been set.

August 2023 – For the most recent biography, please contact Ms. Nicola Kamphausen