"When it comes to turning (German-language) texts into music, Daniel Johannsen currently marks the pinnacle of conveying meaning." This is how the Leipziger Volkszeitung hymnally reviewed the CD 360° Hugo Wolf, nominated for the OPUS KLASSIK in 2023, which the Viennese-born singer presented together with pianist Andreas Fröschl. After training as a church musician, the tenor studied singing with Margit Klaushofer and Robert Holl in Vienna; he was a master student of Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau, Christa Ludwig and Nicolai Gedda and has won prizes at the Bach, Schumann, Mozart, Hilde Zadek and Wigmore Hall competitions.
As one of the most sought-after evangelists and Bach interpreters, Daniel Johannsen performs in the major music centers of Europe, North America, Japan and the Middle East as well as at numerous festivals (Beethovenfest Bonn, Enescu Festival Bucharest, Bachwoche Ansbach). He has performed under the baton of legendary conductors such as Sir Neville Marriner, Nikolaus Harnoncourt, Philippe Herreweghe and René Jacobs, as well as with the Israel Philharmonic, the Staatskapelle Dresden and the Vienna Philharmonic. He had a particularly close artistic friendship with Enoch zu Guttenberg, who died in 2018; performances at venues including New York's Carnegie Hall and the Great Hall of Moscow's Tchaikovsky Conservatory bear witness to this. Daniel Johannsen is a regular guest of the St. Gallen Bach Foundation and the Nederlandse Bachvereniging ("All of Bach").
On stage, the lyric tenor, whose engagements have taken him to Munich's Gärtnerplatz, Leipzig Opera, Vienna Volksoper and Theater Bonn, can be heard in Mozart roles, baroque, 20th century and modern works, as well as in several operetta roles. Lieder recitals with the whole range of the German repertoire (but also with English and French compositions) form a focal point of the singer's activities, who works with pianists such as Graham Johnson, Charles Spencer and Kristian Bezuidenhout. Around 50 CDs, most of them highly praised by radio and the press, document his work.
Numerous projects with Hans-Christoph Rademann and several concerts for the Gesellschaft der Musikfreunde in Vienna are on the program for 2023/24. Daniel Johannsen will make his debut as Evangelist in Los Angeles under the direction of Martin Haselböck. He will once again be a guest at the Festival Bach à Montréal and the Schubertiade Israel. For the Bachfest Leipzig, he has developed an eagerly awaited concept that brings Schubert's Winterreise into dialog with selected arias by Bach - each accompanied by the Atalante Quartet. Also in a string arrangement, and as a world premiere, his interpretation of Die Schöne Müllerin (in the form of a double CD, which also contains the original version with Christoph Hammer on the Graf grand piano from 1827) was recently released by hänssler with the Alinde Quartet.