Originally hailing from Upper Austria and an alumnus of the St. Florianer boys choir, Klemens Sander studied vocal performance at the University of Music and Performing Arts in Vienna with Helena Lazarska and Robert Holl. Initially a member of the ensemble of the Volksoper Wien and the Badisches Staatstheater Karlsruhe, he was invited as a guest soloist to the MusikTheater an der Wien, New National Theatre Tokyo, Grand Théâtre de Luxembourg, as well as the houses in Dijon, Limoges, Caen, Chemnitz, Leipzig, Vilnius, Genoa and at the Neue Oper Wien. His roles have included Don Giovanni, Belcore (L'elisir d'amore), Silvio (I pagliacci), Papageno (Die Zauberflöte), Marcello (La Bohème), Count Almaviva (Le nozze di Figaro), Harlequin (Ariadne auf Naxos), Dr. Falke (Die Fledermaus), Donner (Das Rheingold), Kurwenal (Tristan und Isolde), Onegin (Eugene Onegin) and Escamillo (Carmen). At the Opéra de Lille he appeared as Papageno in Romeo Castellucci's internationally acclaimed new interpretation of Mozart's Die Zauberflöte.

Quickly establishing himself as well in the world of modern opera, Klemens appeared at the Neue Oper Wien, among others, in the role of Sokrates in Krenek’s Pallas Athene Weint. He celebrated a further success with his haunting interpretation of the title role in the Austrian premiere of Manfred Trojahn's Orest. At the Carinthische Sommer, he sang the world premiere of Johannes Kalitzke’s opera Jeanne d’Arc.

On the opera and concert stage he has worked with conductors such as Bertrand de Billy, Guillermo García Calvo, Thomas Dausgaard, Alfred Eschwé, Andrés Orozco-Estrada, H.K. Gruber, Benjamin Haemhouts, Martin Haselböck, René Jacobs, Eivind Gullberg Jensen, Kent Nagano, Kirill Petrenko, Georges Prêtre, Jérémie Rhorer, Helmuth Rilling, Christophe Rousset and Stefan Vladar.

Klemens Sander devotes particular attention to the lied genre and, as winner of the "Richard Tauber Prize" (Wigmore Hall London) and prize-winner at the International Schumann Competition Zwickau and S'Hertogenbosch International Singing Competition, has received many awards for his approach to lied interpretation. Invitations as a concert soloist and Lied interpreter have taken the baritone to Vienna’s Musikverein and Konzerthaus, the Salzburg Festival, Grafenegg Music Festival, the Lockenhaus Chamber Music Festival, Schleswig-Holstein Music Festival, Oxford Lieder Festival, Leipzig Gewandhaus, the Berlin and Paris Philharmonias, the Teatro Monumental Madrid, Laeisz Halle Hamburg, Philharmonie St. Petersburg, the Beethovenfest Warburg, the Carinthian Summer festival, Wiener Festwochen, the Suntory Hall Tokyo and London's Wigmore Hall. His partners at the piano include Justus Zeyen, David Lutz, Charles Spencer, Sholto Kynoch, Uta Sander, Christian Schmidt, Elena Larina, Marcin Koziel, Chanda VanderHart and Deirdre Brenner.

Klemens Sander's extensive discography includes Mahler's Lieder eines fahrenden Gesellen, Beethoven's 9th Symphony, the Fauré and Verdi Requiems, Handel's Judas Maccabaeus and Bach's cantata BWV 82 "Ich habe genug". In 2013 he released his debut solo album with Schubert's "Schwanengesang". The subsequent disc with Schubert's "Die schöne Müllerin" won the Supersonic Award and was nominated at the International Classical Music Awards. His most recently released album "Das Lyrische Intermezzo" (together with the actor Cornelius Obonya) was also nominated for the International Classical Music Awards and received the Bank Austria Kunstpreis.

Most recent highlights include a tour with the Camerata Salzburg to Colombia, Bach’s St. Matthew Passion at the Vienna Musikverein, Beethoven’s 9th Symphony at the Carinthische Sommer, DeDoelen Rotterdam and the Antwerp Spring Festival, the world premiere of Manuela Kerer’s new opera Toteis in Bolzano and Vienna, as well as various recitals, including at the Stefaniensaal Graz, National Theater Maribor and the International Oxford Song Festival.

Parallel to his active career as a performer, Klemens Sander takes great pleasure in coaching new talent as a singing instructor, adjudicator at international competitions and as a lecturer for master classes (e.g. at the New England Conservatory Boston, University of Cartagena/ Colombia). Following his positions as a professor at the Vienna University of Music and as a substitute professor at the Dresden University of Music, Klemens Sander has been a professor at the Detmold University of Music since 2022.

2023 | 2024

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