Bernhard Berchtold © Studio PR Salzburg

Bernhard Berchtold

In the fall of 2022 Bernhard Berchtold will make his role debut as Lohengrin at the Theater Lübeck under the musical direction of GMD Stefan Vladar.

In the summer of 2021 he sang the title role in Zarewitsch on the occasion of the 60th anniversary of the Lehar Festival in Bad Ischl.

The 2021/22 season began for the singer at the Gießen Opera with a new production of Britten's The Rape of Lucretia. This was followed by several performances of an opera gala at the Lübeck Opera and further performances of Die Nase as well as Fidelio at the Hamburg State Opera.
In 2019/20, Bernhard Berchtold gave two very important role debuts, as Florestan in Chemnitz and as Shostakovich's Nose at the Hamburg State Opera, in addition to concerts - such as scenes from Goethe's Faust by Schumann with the RSB under John Storgåds at the Berlin Philharmonie and Haydn's Nelson Mass under Kent Nagano at the Hamburg Elbphilharmonie. In the 2018/19 season, Bernhard Berchtold's schedule included Froh and Tamino at the Deutsche Oper am Rhein, Froh at the Chemnitz Opera and Erik at the Opera di Firenze.

The Austrian tenor studied at the Mozarteum in Salzburg with Horiana Branisteanu and attended the Lied class of Hartmut Höll. Awarded several prizes at international singing competitions, he received one of his first engagements at the Handel Festival in Karlsruhe. From the 2003/04 season, the Badisches Staatstheater was Bernhard Berchtold's regular stage, where he was able to cultivate an extensive repertoire, from Mozart roles such as Belmonte, Ferrando, Don Ottavio, Tamino and Idomeneo, to Aschenbach in Britten's Death in Venice, or Adolar in Weber's Euryanthe, but also already Boris in Janácek's Katja Kabanowa and Erik in the Flying Dutchman.

After leaving the Karlsruhe ensemble, Bernhard Berchtold sang Belmonte and Tamino in Essen, Vasco da Gama in the staged premiere of Giacomo Meyerbeer's opera L'Africaine at the Chemnitz Opera House, Luzio in Wagner's Liebesverbot at the Bayreuth Festival, Max in Nice, Tamino at the Teatro Lirico di Cagliari, Belmonte at the Staatstheater am Gärtnerplatz in Munich, Erik at the Semperoper in Dresden and in Bonn, Belmonte at the Teatro Comunale di Bologna, Tichon in Janacek's Katja Kabanova at the Hamburg State Opera, Idomeneo at the Salzburg Landestheater, and Don Ottavio, Belmonte and Tamino at the Deutsche Oper am Rhein.

Bernhard Berchtold remained faithful to this house in the 2017/18 season and, in addition to his three Mozart roles, also took on Froh in the new production of Wagner's Rheingold. This season, in addition to the St. John Passion at the Vienna Konzerthaus and various other concerts, he also sang Adolar in Weber's Euryanthe at the Dresden Philharmonic under Marek Janowski, Heinrich in Spontini's Agnes von Hohenstaufen at the Erfurt Opera, and Caramello in Strauss's Night in Venice in Lyon and at the Royal Opera House Muscat.

With Henry in Die schweigsame Frau by Richard Strauss, staged by Marco-Arturo Marelli, Bernhard Berchtold made his debut at the Teatro de la Maestranza Sevilla and at the Dresden Semperoper in the 2009/10 season. Further guest engagements have taken him to the Teatro Comunale Bologna, the Teatro Carlo Felice Genova, the State Operas of Hanover and Munich, the Opéra Lyon, La Scala Milan, the Teatro Verdi Trieste and the Theater an der Wien as well as to the Salzburg Festival.

In concert halls Bernhard Berchtold sang with conductors such as Howard Arman at the Händelfestspiele Halle, Christian Arming on Japantournée with the New Japan Philharmonic Orchestra, Nikolaus Harnoncourt at the Styriarte Graz and the Osterklang Vienna, Ton Koopman on tour in France, Holland and Italy, Simon Rattle at the Berlin Philharmonie and the Salzburg Easter Festival, with Helmuth Rilling at the Bach Academy Stuttgart and the Stuttgart Music Days, with Sebastian Weigle at the Frankfurt Museum Concerts and with Masaaki Suzuki in Europe, South America and Japan the St. Matthew Passion and Bach cantatas.