Michael Kraus Baritone

© Susanne Diesner

Biography

Michael Kraus was born in Vienna and studied at the music academies there and in Munich. 

He began his career in the opera houses of Aachen and Ulm and with the Vienna Volksoper, then in many operas and international festivals such as La Scala in Milan, the Vienna, Berlin, Hamburg, Munich, Frankfurt and Leipzig Staatsopers, the Komische Oper in Berlin, the San Francisco Opera, the Dutch National Opera, the Gran Teatre del Liceu in Barcelona, the Ghent and Antwerp Vlaamse Operas, the Zurich Opera House and the Royal Opera House in London, the Paris Opera and the Glyndebourne Festival. 

His repertoire ranges from baroque to contemporary music and includes roles such as Stolzius in Bernd Alois Zimmermann's Die Soldaten at the Dutch National Opera in 2010, he created José Luis Turina's Don Quijote en Barcelona in 2000 and Enric Palomar's La Cabeza del Bautista in 2009, both creations at Gran Teatre del Liceu in Barcelona. In 2012, he sang for the world premiere of Christian Jost's Rumor at the Antwerp Vlaamse Opera. 

Originally a Mozart specialist, he has sung Papageno (The Magic Flute) or Leporello (Don Giovanni). In recent years he has expanded his repertoire to include more dramatic roles, such as Count di Luna (Il trovatore), Don Carlo di Vargas (La forza del destino), Beckmesser (Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg) or Faninal (Der Rosenkavalier). In 2015, he performed Thoas (Iphigénie en Tauride) in Salzburg and then made his debut at the Semperoper Dresden the following year, where he sang Donner (Das Rheingold). He also made his debut role as Alberich (the Ring Cycle) at the Deutsche Oper am Rhein (Hilsdorf/Kober). 

He also can be heard in numerous recordings, including the title-role in Viktor Ullmann's Kaiser von Atlantis and in many works from the series Entartete Kunst by DECCA. He has been the Director of the new Opera Studio of the Vienna Staatsoper since September 2020.

Immerse in the Paris Opera universe

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