About
His exceptional vocal talent and powerful stage presence have established the German baritone Michael Volle as one of the most sought-after singers of his generation. Inspired by his teachers Josef Metternich and Rudolf Piernay, he has conquered the stages of the world’s most prestigious opera houses as a heroic baritone, while never losing his passion for the more intimate concert and song repertoire.
After early engagements in Mannheim, Bonn, Düsseldorf, and Cologne, he became a member of the ensembles at the Zurich Opera House and the Bavarian State Opera in Munich, where the foundation was laid for an acclaimed international career. This career has since taken him as a guest artist to all major international opera stages, including the opera houses in Berlin, the State Operas of Hamburg, Dresden, Munich, and Vienna, the Festspielhaus Baden-Baden, the Opéra National de Paris, London’s Royal Opera House Covent Garden, the Teatro Real in Madrid, the Liceu in Barcelona, La Scala in Milan, and the Metropolitan Opera in New York, as well as to the Bregenz, Salzburg Festivals, and the Wagner Festival in Bayreuth.
Michael Volle has earned particular renown as an interpreter of Richard Wagner’s works. Among his most important roles are Wotan/Wanderer in Wagner’s Ring Cycle and Hans Sachs in Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg. In addition, the roles of Richard Strauss and the major baritone parts of the Italian repertoire, especially those by Giuseppe Verdi, form a central focus of his artistic work. In the 2024/25 season, he appeared in new productions of Rheingold, Walküre, and Siegfried at La Scala in Milan (directed by David McVicar), where the Ring will be completed in the 2025/26 season with two complete cycles. The Vienna State Opera also remains a regular fixture in his calendar; this season he appears there in two Ring cycles. In November 2025, he returns to the Berlin State Opera Unter den Linden in the title role of Falstaff, having already appeared there as Wotan/Wanderer in September 2025, and he takes on the role of Mandryka (Arabella) at the Zurich Opera House. The season concludes with the 150th anniversary of the Bayreuth Festival, where he will perform in two Ring cycles and as Amfortas in Parsifal.
The versatile artist’s wide-ranging operatic repertoire also includes other roles by Wagner and Strauss—such as Holländer, Wolfram, Jochanaan, Barak, and Orest—as well as Verdi’s Iago and Nabucco, Puccini’s Scarpia, Marcello, and Jack Rance, and Mozart’s Count, Don Giovanni, and Don Alfonso. His repertoire extends further to works by Mussorgsky (Boris Godunov) and Berg (Wozzeck, Dr. Schön/Jack the Ripper).
In addition to his operatic engagements, Michael Volle regularly appears on the concert stage, performing with leading orchestras and conductors such as Daniel Barenboim, Zubin Mehta, Christian Thielemann, Antonio Pappano, Valery Gergiev, Simon Rattle, Thomas Hengelbrock, Franz Welser-Möst, Yannick Nézet-Séguin, Kirill Petrenko, and many others.
Michael Volle also places special emphasis on the art song recital. He devotes his programs primarily to the German Lied tradition, captivating audiences with his deeply expressive interpretations. In April and May 2026, he can be heard in two recitals—in Zurich and Budapest—with his long-time piano partner Prof. Helmut Deutsch.
Numerous CD and DVD recordings document his distinguished artistic career. In 2009, he received the German Theatre Award “DER FAUST”, and the magazine OPERNWELT named him “Singer of the Year” in the 2007/2008, 2013/2014, and 2022/23 seasons. In recognition of his outstanding achievements on stage, the exceptional artist was awarded the “Best Male Singer” prize at the Oper! Awards 2023.