Manuel Walser

Swiss baritone Manuel Walser studied singing with Thomas Quasthoff at the Hanns Eisler School of Music in Berlin, where he graduated with honours. He was awarded first prize and the audience prize at the international "Das Lied" competition in Berlin in 2013.

© photo Thomas Walser - Farbe_Gross

Manuel Walser was a permanent ensemble member of the Vienna State Opera for five seasons until 2019. In January 2018, he made his debut at the Berlin State Opera Unter den Linden as Harlequin in Strauss' Ariadne auf Naxos. In February 2021, he made his debut in Strauss' Salome at La Scala in Milan, after which he appeared as Donner in a new production of Wagner's Rheingold at the Erl Festival in summer 2021. At the same festival he also made his role debut as Gunther in Wagner's Götterdämmerung in August 2023 and will return once more for the entire Ring cycle in summer 2024. In December 2022, Manuel Walser appeared as the narrator in a new production of Mozart's Magic Flute at the Opéra National du Rhin in Strasbourg and made his debut as Papageno in a concert performance of the same opera under the direction of Martin Wåhlberg in autumn 2023.

The baritone has long been a regular guest on the concert stage, having worked with renowned orchestras such as the Concertgebouw Orkest, Wiener Symphoniker, Staatskapelle Dresden, Israel Philharmonic Orchestra, Tonkünstlerorchester Niederösterreich, the Orchestre de la Suisse Romande, J. S. Bach Foundation, Concentus Musicus Wien and the Ensemble Pygmalion under conductors such as Anja Bihlmaier, Alfred Eschwé, Stefan Gottfried, Manfred Honeck, Martin Haselböck, Ton Koopman, Jonathan Nott, Raphaël Pichon, Andreas Spering, Jordi Savall and Emmanuel Tjeknavorian.

Manuel Walser is particularly dedicated to the lied repertoire. Recitals have taken him to Barcelona, Paris, London's Wigmore Hall and the Schubertíada Vilabertran in the Pierre Boulez Saal, the Berlin and Vienna Konzerthaus, the Salzburg Festival, the Vienna Musikverein, Munich, Zurich, the Teatro de la Zarzuela in Madrid and the Schubertiade Schwarzenberg.

Manuel Walser is a regular guest at the Wiener Konzerthaus, where he was featured as a "Great Talent" in 2019-2020. Recent Highlight include Beethoven's Missa Solemnis and Beethoven's Ninth Symphony, as well as Bach's St John Passion and Schumann's Das Paradies und die Peri under Jordi Savall, Bach cantatas together with the Freiburg Baroque Orchestra conducted by Kristian Bezuidenhout, Mahler's Lieder eines fahrenden Gesellen with the Residentie Orchestra conducted by Andrew Grams, Schumann's Das Paradies und die Peri in the Hamburg Elbphilharmonie and Mendelssohn's Elijah in Ottobeuren, as well as Schumann's Der Rose Pilgerfahrt at the Vienna Musikverein and Bach's St Matthew Passion with the Gewandhausorchester in Leipzig.

Highlight of the 2025-2026 season will be Haydn’s Seasons with the Helsinki Baroque Orchestra, Bach’s Christmas-Oratorio in Oslo and with the Concentus Musicus and Stefan Gottfried in Vienna, Beethoven’s IX Symphony with the Orchestra Sinfonica di Milano and Emmanuel Tjeknavorian in Milano, Beethoven’s Christ on the Mount of Olives, Bach’s b-minor Mass with the Gewandhausorchestra in Leipzig among others.