BARITONE | BASS
Georg Nigl
Representation: World
- Helga Machreich-Unterzaucher
- +43 (0)5 06 80-012
- machreich@machreich-artists.com
GALLERY
BIOGRAPHY
Georg Nigl continues to receive critical acclaim from audiences and critics alike for his passionate and authentic performances – be it his celebrated Wozzeck at La Scala in Milan, his portrayal of Rihm’s Lenz in Brussels and Berlin, or his interpretation of the Bach cantatas with Luca Pianca. Through profound and comprehensive study of his repertoire, his affinity for spoken theatre and the resulting emphasis on text and rhetoric, as well as his expressive portrayals on stage, make Georg Nigl one of the most celebrated baritones in the world.
Even as a child, Georg Nigl had a strong connection with music, performing on major stages as a soprano soloist of the Vienna Boys’ Choir. His studies with Kammersängerin Hilde Zadek served as a valuable stimulus to pursue his subsequent career as a baritone.
His unmistakable timbre, which lends his roles special weight and character, has taken him to the worlds most prominent opera stages. These appearances have included the Bolshoi Theatre in Moscow, the Berlin State Opera, the Bavarian State Opera in Munich, the Théâtre des Champs-Elysées, the Nederlandse Opera in Amsterdam and the Théâtre de la Monnaie in Brussels, as well as the Salzburg Festival, the Festival d’Aix-en-Provence, the Ruhrtriennale and Wiener Festwochen. On such occasions he has worked with renowned conductors including Daniel Barenboim, Teodor Currentzis, Valery Gergiev, Daniel Harding, Pablo Heras-Casado Nikolaus Harnoncourt, René Jacobs, Vladimir Jurowski, Kent Nagano, Kirill Petrenko, and Sir Simon Rattle, and with directors such as Andrea Breth, Romeo Castellucci, Frank Castorf, Barrie Kosky, Hans Neuenfels, Johan Simons, Dmitri Tcherniakov and Sasha Waltz.
Georg Nigl has gained particular renown not only as the soloist in numerous world premieres, but also as the source of inspiration for compositions and publications by artists such as Friedrich Cerha, Pascal Dusapin, Georg Friedrich Haas, Wolfgang Mitterer, Olga Neuwirth and Wolfgang Rihm.
Georg Nigl’s chamber music repertoire spans a broad range, from the baroque to the first Viennese School and most recent works – jointly rehearsed and performed with Alexander Melnikov, Gérard Wyss and Luca Pianca. His album Bach privat with Anna Lucia Richter won him a Diapason d’or in November 2017. His song album Vanitas, released in the spring of 2020 and featuring Beethoven’s An die ferne Geliebte, selected songs by Franz Schubert and Wolfgang Rihm’s Vermischter Traum, received the German Record Critics’ Award in 2021. In spring 2023 he released his latest album "Echo”, featuring lieder and ballade by Schubert, Loewe, Schumann and Wolf, which received high praise among the press.
Highlights of recent seasons include the world premiere of Beat Furrer's Violetter Schnee at the Staatsoper Unter den Linden Berlin and his Jakob Lenz by Wolfgang Rihm, which was hailed by the press and public and which he also performed in concert at the Salzburg Festival in 2022. At the Vienna State Opera, he recently celebrated great successes as Papageno in Mozart's The Magic Flute, as Eisenstein in Strauss' Die Fledermaus, in the title role of Monteverdi's L’Orfeo, as Ulisse in Monteverdi's Ritorno d'Ulisse in Patria and as Nekrotzar in Ligeti's Le Grand Macabre. Nigl was once again able to demonstrate his artistic versatility as Alberich in a concert performance of Wagner's Das Rheingold under Sir Simon Rattle and as Eisenstein in a new production of Die Fledermaus at the Bavarian State Opera. At the Aix-en-Provence Festival in summer 2023, Georg Nigl appeared as Don Alfonso in a new production of Mozart's Cosí fan tutte, a role he reprised at the Théâtre du Châtelet in February 2024.
With the "Nachtmusiken" - a self-conceived serenade cycle that took place in the intimate setting of the Stefan Zweig Centre together with the clavichordist Alexander Gergelyfi and the actor Ulrich Noethen - Georg Nigl provided a highlight of the Salzburg Festival in summer 2023. Following its great success, this cycle will be continued at the Salzburg Festival in 2024. The artist will also be performing Schubert's Schwanengesang at the Carinthian Summer and Dallapiccola's Il prigionniero, Schönberg's Ode to Napoelon and Schönberg's Hanging Gardens at the Salzburg Festival in summer 2024.
In the 2025-2026 season, he will appear as Clov in a new production of Kurtág's Fin de partie, as Ulisse in Monteverdi's Ritorno d'Ulisse in Patria and as Eisenstein in Strauss' Die Fledermaus at the Vienna State Opera. In Luxemburg he will sing Don Alfonso in Mozart's Cosí fan tutte, the title role of Gordon Kampe's Despot at the Hamburg State Opera, Eisenstein and Don Alfonso at the Bavarian State Opera and, for the first time, Klingsor in a new production of Wagner's Parsifal at the Tyrolean Festival in Erl.
On the concert platform, Georg Nigl can be heard in Bach's St Matthew Passion under Sir Simon Rattle in Munich, the St John Passion with Leonardo Garciía Alarcón and Sasha Waltz at the Théâtre des Champs Elysées in Paris and with Fauré's Requiem in Frankfurt. Georg Nigl can be heard with his “Nachtmusiken” at the Musikfest in Bremen and in Luxembourg. At the Vienna State Opera, he will give a recital of war and anti-war songs alongside Austrian actor Nicholas Ofczarek, who will recite texts from "Die letzten Tage der Menschheit" by Karl Kraus. Georg Nigl has also devised a new “opera quiz” for the Neue Staatsoper of the Vienna State Opera.
Recitals have recently taken the baritone to the Ludwigsburg Schlossfestspiele, the Bremen Music Festival, the Cologne Philharmonie, the Elbphilharmonie Hamburg and the Berlin and Paris Philharmonie.
In the 2015 critics' poll conducted by Opernwelt magazine, Georg Nigl was named "Singer of the Year" for his interpretation of Rihm's Lenz.
2024 | 2025
This biography is to be reproduced without any changes, omissions or additions, unless expressly authorized by the artist’s management.
DISCOGRAPHY
Echo
Songs and ballades by Franz Schubert,
Carl Loewe, Robert Schumann and Hugo Wolf
Georg Nigl, baritone | Olga Paschenko, piano
Label: Alpha | 2023
Vanitas
Franz Schubert: a selection of Lieder | Ludwig van Beethoven: An die ferne Geliebte op. 98
Wolfgang Rihm: Vermischter Traum (Gryphius-Stück)
Georg Nigl, baritone | Olga Paschenko, piano
Label: Alpha | 2020
Wagner: Siegfried
Simon O’Neill (Siegfried), Peter Hoare (Mime), Michael Volle (Der Wanderer), Georg Nigl (Alberich)
Franz-Josef Selig (Fafner), Danae Kontora (Waldvöglein), Gerhild Romberger (Erda), Anja Kampe (Brünnhilde)
Symphonieorchester des Bayerischen Rundfunks
Conductor: Sir Simon Rattle
Label: BR Klassik | 2023
Rihm: Jakob Lenz
Georg Nigl, Henry Waddington, John Graham-Hall
Orchestre Symphonique de la Monnaie
Conductor: Franck Ollu
Label: Alpha | 2019
CALENDAR
Johann Strauß: Die Fledermaus
Georg Nigl, Gabriel von Eisenstein
Hanna-Elisabeth Müller, Rosalinde
Wolfgang Bankl, Frank
Daria Sushkova, Prinz Orlofsky
Jörg Schneider, Alfred, ein Tenor
Clemens Unterreiner, Dr. Falke
Ilia Staple, Adele
Michael Nirvarani, Frosch
Betrand de Billy, conductor
Otto Schenk, stage director
Johann Strauß: Die Fledermaus
Georg Nigl, Gabriel von Eisenstein
Hanna-Elisabeth Müller, Rosalinde
Wolfgang Bankl, Frank
Daria Sushkova, Prinz Orlofsky
Jörg Schneider, Alfred, ein Tenor
Clemens Unterreiner, Dr. Falke
Ilia Staple, Adele
Michael Nirvarani, Frosch
Betrand de Billy, conductor
Otto Schenk, stage director
Johann Strauß: Die Fledermaus
Georg Nigl, Gabriel von Eisenstein
Hanna-Elisabeth Müller, Rosalinde
Wolfgang Bankl, Frank
Daria Sushkova, Prinz Orlofsky
Jörg Schneider, Alfred, ein Tenor
Clemens Unterreiner, Dr. Falke
Ilia Staple, Adele
Michael Nirvarani, Frosch
Betrand de Billy, conductor
Otto Schenk, stage director
Georg Nigl, BaritonE
Nicholas Ofczarek, Recitation
Vladimir Jurowski, Piano
War and anti-war songs & texts from ‘The Last Days of Mankind’ by Karl Kraus
Gordon Kampe: Despot
Gordon Kampe, Composer
Dieter Sperl, Text
Georg Nigl, Soloist
Philharmonisches Staatsorchester Hamburg
CONTACT
Representation: World
- Helga Machreich-Unterzaucher
- +43 (0)5 06 80-012
- machreich@machreich-artists.com
