Wolfgang Holzmair

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Wolfgang Holzmair (b. 1952) is a contemporary baritone from Vocklabruck, Austria.

After training in the Vienna Music Academy he won 2nd prize in the baritone class of the 's-Hertogenbosch International Vocal Competition in 1981, and a year later 1st prize in the Musikverein International Lieder Competition, Vienna. He spent about 6 years with opera companies in Bern and Gelsenkirchen before successes in Udo Zimmermann's The White Rose and Claude Debussy's Pelléas et Mélisande brought him to general attention.^[1] A growing reputation in recital led to an invitation to record Johannes Brahms's Die schöne Magelone with the iconic German actor Will Quadflieg and the pianist Gerard Wyss, and there followed recordings of settings (1834 - 1988) of Lord Byron's poetry (sponsored by the British Consul in Vienna to mark the 200th anniversary of the poet's death), music by women composers (sponsored by the Musical Heritage Society) and Hans Zender's Nachtszenen, a cantata based on James Joyce's Ulysses.

Holzmair has a high medium-weight baritone voice, with a tenor ring. Although many opera roles favor the more usual heavier and darker type,^[2] he has played well over 30 characters from an eclectic repertoire in which rarely performed works mingle with such mainstays as Così fan tutte (he made his debut as Don Alfonso in Opera de Lyon's lively and youth-orientated 2006 production), Der Rosenkavalier (Faninal in Seattle, 2006 and Hong Kong, 2007), and Tannhäuser (Wolfram in Erfurt's 2007 production celebrating St Elizabeth's 1000th anniversary).

Holzmair is a noted lieder interpreter, widely praised for his musicianship and artistry; reviewers often comment on the intensity of his recitals^[3], and his style has also been noted for a conversational ease that can "clarify, illuminate a song, lifting, highlighting a word or phrase without seeming to do so".^[4] ^[5] Much of his recording output is song, and during the 1990s he confounded rumours that the song-recital is moribund by making five traditional-style North American tours before moving onto trans-Atlantic opera stages. A familiar figure in major centres, Holzmair also brings classical song to communities with fewer listening opportunities, indeed on some occasions he has introduced the genre. His repertoire is drawn from the 18th-21st century and extends far beyond the Germanic tradition, French melodies in particular having a strong hold on his affections; seldom-performed works feature as well as standard fare, Hans Eisler, Franz Mittler, Eric Zeisl and Ernst Krenek being among 20th century composers he has helped bring to attention. Pianists he works with include Imogen Cooper, in a partnership extolled for its exceptionally close rapport, Till Fellner, Andreas Haefliger, Philippe Cassard, Russell Ryan and Roger Vignoles.

Holzmair regularly appears with orchestras, and also maintains a strong presence in the less high-profile world of chamber music, where the Carmina Quartet, the Nash Ensemble and the Trio Wanderer are some of his collaborators. In recent years he has participated in such notable European Chamber Music Festivals as Risør, Kuhmo, Lockenhaus, Kyburgiade and Mondsee, and in 2008 he joins La Folle Journée's innovative and peripatetic program for bringing classical music to new audiences.

Premieres since 2000 include a chamber version of Hans Werner Henze's Five Neapolitan Songs with the Nash Ensemble (as part of a 75th birthday tribute to the composer), Dmitry Smirnov's Eternal Refuge^[6] with the Altenburg Trio Wien (recorded by Austrian Radio), Daniel Schnyder's one-act opera Mozart and Casanova (at the Menuhin Festival, Gstaad), Helmut Schmidinger's solo cantata Mozart Briefe (with the Bruckner Orchestra of Linz, as part of Mozart's 250th), and David Matthews' arrangement of Franz Schubert's Schwanengesang (commissioned by the Nash Ensemble). He marked Eric Zeisl's 100th anniversary with a disc that included unpublished songs, and contributed to a recording of new settings of Eduard Mörike's poetry commissioned by the Hugo Wolf Instititute of Stuttgart, to celebrate the poet's 200th birthday. Holzmair has commissioned David Leisner to compose a new piece for baritone and string quartet and the resulting work, A Timeless Procession, will be premiered in a future season.

Since 1998 Holzmair has taught at the Salzburg Mozarteum and given master classes in Europe and North America; in 2008 the Royal College of Music made him a Fellow in recognition of services to the college and to music. He is an Advisor to the Lotte Lehmann Foundation, and contributed to the Foundation's first CD.