The Austrian baritone Thomas Essl has been a member of the ensemble at Chemnitz Opera House since 2023/24, having introduced himself as a guest in residence in 2022/23 with roles such as Escamillo, Peter Besenbinder and Wozzeck. In the current season, he can be heard in the role of the Four Villains in “The Tales of Hoffmann”, as Marcello in “La bohème” and as Giorgio Germont in “La traviata”, among others.
In the 21/22 season, he appeared at Graz Opera as Halit in the world premiere of Sinan Sanamli’s opera “The Patron Saint of Liars” and as Lazar Wolf in Jerry Bock’s musical “Fiddler on the roof”, at Leoben City Theatre as Eisenstein in Johann Strauss’ “The Bat”, at the Festival Lied in Würzburg with Schubert’s “Schwanengesang” and at the Austrian opera festival Oper Burg Gars as Dancairo in Bizet’s “Carmen”. Other engagements include gala concerts in Riga, “Ein Deutsches Requiem” by Johannes Brahms in Graz, the role of Krušina in Smetana’s “Die verkaufte Braut” at the Graz Opera and Schumann’s “Dichterliebe” again at the Festival Lied in Würzburg.
In previous years, he was a prizewinner in the “Zukunftsstimmen” competition organised by Elīna Garanča, sang Guglielmo in “Così fan tutte”, Conte Almaviva in “The Marriage of Figaro”, Scherasmin in Carl Maria von Weber’s “Oberon” under Oksana Lyniv, the Innkeeper in Engelbert Humperdinck’s “The King´s Children”, Frank in “The Bat” at Graz Opera, Don Giovanni at the Ring Award at Schauspielhaus Graz and Count Hanschmann in Lehár’s “The Blue Mazurka” at Baden City Theatre.
In 2018, Thomas Essl won prizes at the Nico Dostal Operetta Competition and the Accademia vocalis in Wörgl.
As Malatesta (“Don Pasquale”), he made a guest appearance at the Opera Nova in Sofia (Bulgaria). He also regularly appears on the concert stage as a lieder singer and with masses and oratorios by Bach, Mozart, Haydn, Brahms and Carl Orff, among others, with great success.
Born in Leoben and raised in Trofaiach, Thomas Essl studied trumpet and jazz piano in Graz. He received his vocal training in Graz with Susanne Kopeinig and at the University of Music and Performing Arts Vienna with Karlheinz Hanser. He attended masterclasses with Brigitte Fassbaender, Thomas Hampson, Christa Ludwig, Thomas Quasthoff and Krassimira Stoyanova, and took acting lessons with Chris Pichler.
08/2024
