Gideon Poppe was born in Hamburg and initially studied sports science at the German Sport University Cologne before deciding to pursue a career as a singer. He studied stage and concert singing at the Lübeck University of Music from 2002 to 2006 and from 2006 at the University of Music in Karlsruhe, where he graduated from the Institute for Music Theater in 2009. He gained experience in lieder with Mitsuko Shirai and Hartmut Höll and attended masterclasses with Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau and Júlia Várady, among others.
In 2009 he was a scholarship holder of the Richard Wagner Association Baden-Baden.
Gideon Poppe gained his first stage experience during his studies at the Hamburg Chamber Opera and the Theater für Kinder Hamburg, where he appeared in adaptations of Zar und Zimmermann (as Peter Iwanow), Die Entführung aus dem Serail (as Belmonte) and Paisiello's Der Barbier von Sevilla (as Almaviva).
From 2007/2008, he was a member of the opera studio at the Badisches Staatstheater Karlsruhe and appeared in numerous productions.
As an ensemble member of the Badisches Staatstheater Karlsruhe from 2009 to 2011, the singer was able to develop an extensive repertoire with roles such as Pedrillo in Mozart's Die Entführung aus dem Serail, Monostatos in Die Zauberflöte, Basilio and Don Curzio in Le nozze di Figaro as well as other specialist roles. In February 2011, he made his debut at the Karlsruhe Handel Festival as Emilio in Partenope under the direction of Michael Hofstetter.
From 2011 to 2013, the tenor was a member of the ensemble at the Staatstheater Kassel, where he appeared in productions including Parsifal, La Boheme and Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk, as well as Corrado in Alessandro Scarlatti's Griselda. He has also sung roles such as Monostatos in Die Zauberflöte, Flute/Thisby in Britten's A Midsummer Night's Dream, Prologue and Peter Quint in Britten's The Turn of the Screw, Boni in Kálmán's Csárdásfürstin, Jaquino in Beethoven's Fidelio and Rodrigo in Verdi's Otello.
In the 2013/14 to 2023/24 seasons, Gideon Poppe was a member of the ensemble of the Deutsche Oper Berlin, where he sang roles such as Bardolfo (Falstaff), Lysander (A Midsummer Night's Dream), Monostatos (The Magic Flute), Cavaliere Belfiore (Il viaggio a Reims), Remendado (Carmen), Pang (Turandot), Goro (Madama Butterfly), (Harry (La fanciulla del West), Don Curzio (Le nozze di Figaro), Conte di Lerma (Don Carlo), Lord Cecil (Roberto Devereux), Der junge Mensch (Das Wunder der Heliane), Janek (Die Sache Makropoulos), Sailor and Priest in Meyerbeer's Vasco da Gama, Steuermann (Der fliegende Holländer), Kunz Vogelgesang (Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg), Heinrich der Schreiber (Tannhäuser) and many more. In concert performances at the Deutsche Oper Berlin in the Berlin Philharmonie, Gideon Poppe appeared as Faucheur in Mayerbeer's Dinorah and alongside Edita Gruberova as Lord Cecil in Donizetti's Roberto Devereux.
In August 2014, he made his debut at the BBC Proms at the Royal Albert Hall in London as the second Jew and slave in a concert performance of Richard Strauss' opera Salome, with the Deutsche Oper Berlin Orchestra conducted by Donald Runnicles.
At the turn of the year 14/15 he made his debut at the Frankfurt Opera as Boni in Csardasfürstin. Gideon Poppe made his debut with this piece at the Kölner Philharmonie in January 2015, with a guest performance by Oper Frankfurt.
With the Lautten Compagney Berlin, conducted by Wolfgang Katschner, Gideon Poppe was heard in The Magic Flute in June.
In December 2015, he made his successful debut at the Staatstheater am Gärtnerplatz in Munich as Candide in Bernstein's operetta of the same name.
In October 2016, Gideon Poppe returned to the Staatstheater Kassel as a guest and performed the role of Fritz in the operetta The Grand Duchess of Gerolstein by Jacques Offenbach.
In December 2016, he made his debut at the Cologne Opera with the title role of Candides in the operetta of the same name by Leonard Berstein. In the same month, he sang Edmondo in Puccini's Manon Lescaut for the first time at the Hanover State Opera.
In 2017, Gideon Poppe made his debut at the Leipzig Opera with the role of Pang in Turandot by Puccini.
In the 2017/18 season, Gideon Poppe made his debut at the Semperoper in a new production of La forza del Destino by Verdi, directed by Keith Warner. The 2018/19 season opened with this production, in which Gideon Poppe once again played Mastro Trabuco.
In January 2019, Gideon Poppe made his Austrian debut as Caramello in Eine Nacht in Venedig by J. Strauss at the Volksoper Wien.
Gideon Poppe opened the 2019/20 season and made his debut as Ivan, Kovalev's servant in The Nose by Shostakovich at the Hamburg State Opera under the baton of Kent Nagano and directed by Karin Beier.
In 2021, he returned to the Hamburg State Opera to shine as the four servants in The Tales of Hoffman.
In 2022, Gideon Poppe made his debut at the Edinburgh Festival as Jaquino in Beethoven's Fidelio. In 2023, he was invited back as Heinrich der Schreiber in Wagner's Tannhäuser.
In March 2024, he made his debut at the Bavarian State Opera in a celebrated production of Tobias Kratzer's Die Passagierin by Weinberg under the baton of Vladimir Jurowski. This was followed in May by a stand-in for four performances of Die Nase by Shostakovich.
Gideon Poppe is also active as a concert soloist and has a repertoire that includes many masses and cantatas as well as the major works of the oratorio repertoire. He has a great love of lieder singing, which he has already demonstrated in numerous recitals.
Gideon Poppe accepted a position at the Cologne University of Music and Dance in the winter semester of 22/23, where he is a professor of singing.