Tobias Kehrer was born in Dessau and received music lessons at a very young age. After graduating from high school, he studied at the Berlin University of the Arts, where he completed his vocal training with Siegfried Lorenz. In February 2011, he finished his music studies with the acquisition of his diploma.
Already during his studies, the young bass took part in several studio productions. At the beginning of the 2011/12 season, he received the Franz-Josef Weisweiler scholarship from the Förderkreis of the Deutsche Oper Berlin and has been a permanent ensemble member there since the 2012/13 season. His roles at this house include Osmin ("Die Entführung aus dem Serail"), Daland ("Der fliegende Holländer"), Commendatore ("Don Giovanni"), Sarastro ("Die Zauberflöte"), Steffano Colonna ("Rienzi"), Colline ("La bohème"), Sparafucile ("Rigoletto"), Basilio ("Il barbiere di Siviglia"), and Orest ("Elektra").
In the 2013/14 season, he sang Fafner in "Das Rheingold" under the musical direction of Sir Simon Rattle, as well as (2016/2017 and 2020/2021 Fafner and Hunding in the "Ring cycle" under Sir Donald Runnicles. He made his role debut as Rocco in "Fidelio" in the 2022/23 season under Sir Donald Runnicles.
He made his debut at the Metropolitan Opera in New York in the 2014/15 season as Sarastro ("Die Zauberflöte"), with a return engagement in 2017/18. He debuted at the Bavarian State Opera in 2015/16 as Osmin and returned in 2018/19 as Sarastro ("Die Zauberflöte").
In 2017, he made his debut at the Lyric Opera of Chicago as Fafner ("Das Rheingold", new production; production team: David Pountney/Sir Andrew Davis), at the Opéra national de Paris as Sarastro ("Die Zauberflöte"), and at the Teatro alla Scala as Osmin ("Die Entführung aus dem Serail") and 2019 Truffaldino ("Ariadne auf Naxos"). He made his debut at the Vienna State Opera in the 2018/19 season as Hunding ("Die Walküre").
In the 2020/21 season, he appeared at the Teatro Real as the Commendatore (Don Giovanni). In the 2021/22 season, he performed at the Semperoper Dresden as Osmin ("Die Entführung aus dem Serail") and Sarastro ("Die Zauberflöte"), at the Vienna State Opera as Osmin, and at Oper Leipzig during the Richard Wagner Festival Days 2022 as Hunding ("Die Walküre").
In 2022/23, he returned to the Semperoper Dresden as Sarastro ("Die Zauberflöte"), with further return engagements scheduled for 2023, 2024, 2025, and 2026, and appeared at the Théâtres de la Ville de Luxembourg as Osmin ("Die Entführung aus dem Serail").
At the Salzburg Festival in 2012, he appeared in a new production of "Ariadne auf Naxos" as Truffaldino under the musical direction of Daniel Harding and staged by Sven-Eric Bechtholf. In 2013, he performed in Walter Braunfels’ "Jeanne d’Arc" as Jacobus von Arc (concert performance under Manfred Honeck) and in "Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg" as the Night Watchman (new production, Daniele Gatti/Stefan Herheim). In 2014, he sang the Police Commissioner in "Der Rosenkavalier" (new production, Franz Welser-Möst/Harry Kupfer), with a return engagement in 2015, and performed Bruckner’s Te Deum under Philippe Jordan. At the Glyndebourne Festival in 2015, he appeared in a new production of "Die Entführung aus dem Serail" as Osmin.
He made his debut at the Bayreuth Festival in 2018 as Hunding ("Die Walküre"), the Night Watchman ("Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg"), and Titurel ("Parsifal"). He returned to Bayreuth in 2023, 2024, and 2025, performing Titurel ("Parsifal"), Fafner ("Das Rheingold" and "Siegfried"), and in 2025 the Night Watchman ("Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg").
He has also appeared in concert performances with the Orquesta de València ("Die Walküre", Act I, concert performance under Yaron Traub, 2014), the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra in Tel Aviv (Beethoven: Symphony No. 9 under Zubin Mehta, October 2015), and the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra (Bruckner: Te Deum under Zubin Mehta; concerts in Munich and Rosenheim, November 2016).
In November 2023, he appeared with the Netherlands Radio Philharmonic Orchestra at the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam as Fafner ("Siegfried", concert performance under Karina Canellakis). He made his debut with the Berlin Philharmonic in "Die Walküre" (Act I) as Hunding under Kirill Petrenko in the New Year’s concerts 2023/2024.