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Holger Falk

Holger Falk
Wonge Bergman

Baritone

Holger Falk is one of the most intellectually and vocally flexible singers on German stages, wrote the magazine Opernwelt. The colourfulness, flexibility and authenticity in his expression are the artistic foundation of his international career as an opera singer as well as an interpreter of art song.

Along with his repertoire of early and classical music, Holger Falk has a great passion for works from contemporary music theatre. Over the last few years, he performed Wolfgang Rihm’s major roles: Jakob Lenz at the Polish National Opera Warsaw and Dionysos at the Heidelberg Theatre (which received a nomination for production of the year in 2013 by the magazine Opernwelt) as well as the role of Cortez in Die Eroberung von Mexico at the Teatro Real Madrid at the invitation of Gérard Mortier (stage direction: Pierre Audi).

Furthermore, he has premiered many new roles that have been written for him. These include Inga in The Golden Dragon by Peter Eötvös at the Frankfurt Opera and later-on at the Bregenz Festival as well as Lucifer in Eötvös’ Paradise Reloaded at the Palace of Arts – Müpa Budapest. He sang the world premieres of Miroslav Srnka’s Make No Noise at the Bavarian State Opera Munich, Benoit Mernier’s Frü̈hlings Erwachen at La Monnaie Brussels, Michael Wertmüller’s Weine nicht, singe! at the Hamburg State Opera as well as in new works by Steffen Schleiermacher (Kokain), Jan Müller-Wieland (Die Irre), Hans Gefors (Schattenspiele), Vladimir Tarnopolski (Jenseits der Schatten), Beat Furrer (La biancha notte), Fabián Panisello (L’officina della resurrezione) and Georges Aperghis (Le Soldat inconnu). In 2017, he has been nominated as singer of the year by Opernwelt magazine for the interpretation of Kassandra in Xenaki’s Oresteia at the Theater Basel (stage direction: Calixto Bieito).

Further opera engagements have taken him to the Théâtre des Champs-Élysées Paris, the Theater an der Wien and the Boston Early Music Festival. He has worked with outstanding conductors and directors, such as Christopher Hogwood, Franck Ollu, Konrad Junghänel, Stephen Stubbs, Jérémie Rhorer, Carlos Padrissa (La fura dels Baus), Vincent Boussard, Pierre Audi and Calixto Bieito. Holger Falk regularly works with contemporary ensembles such as the Ensemble Modern (Henze’s El Cimarron, Goebbels’ Landschaft mit entfernten Verwandten etc.), Ensemble Resonanz, Musikfabrik NRW, Doelen Ensemble Rotterdam, Basel Sinfonietta (Xenakis’s Oresteia) as well as with baroque ensembles including the Ensemble Elyma Genève (Monteverdi’s Orfeo at the Opéra de Lausanne/Rheingau Music Festival), Elbipolis Hamburg (Graupner’s Dido at the Konzerthaus Berlin) and the Concerto Köln (Hasse’s Leucippo at the Schwetzingen SWR Festival). Holger Falk founded the German-Persian ensemble Hafez.

Holger Falk is an enthusiastic singer of Lieder and has performed at the Kölner Philharmonie, Gewandhaus Leipzig, Franz Liszt Academy Budapest, Beaux-Arts Bruxelles, Operá de Rouen, Schleswig-Holstein Music Festival, Dresden Music Festival, Berlin Festival and at the Steirischer Herbst Graz.

Holger Falk began singing as a boy with the famous Regensburg Cathedral Boys’ Choir followed by vocal studies at the Wurzburg Conservatory, in Milan with Sigune von Osten, Franco Corelli and with Neil Semer, among others.

Holger Falk was honoured with the renown Jahrespreis der Deutschen Schallplattenkritik for his recording of Hanns Eisler Lieder Vol. 1, the first part of a 4-CD collection of songs by Eisler, as well as with the ECHO Klassik Award 2016 for his recording of Erik Satie: Intégrale des Mélodies et Chansons. As a specialist in Francis Poulenc’s Mélodies, he released three CDs of his complete oeuvre of all 115 Mélodies for male voice (MDG). His wide discography also includes Wolfgang Rihm’s Lieder (MDG), Schubert’s Schwanengesang, J. M. Hauer’s Lieder nach Hölderlin (MDG) and Peter Eötvös’ Paradise reloaded.

Since fall 2017, his latest recording of Hanns Eisler Lieder Vol. 2 has been available and already has received rave reviews.

The new season 201718 will see him perform the main-role of Manfred Trojahn’s opera Enrico at the Frankfurt Opera and Elias by Mendelssohn in a scenic production with the Kammerakademie Potsdam among other engagements.

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