Freizeit
Bayreuth Artist Talk: Michael Volle

Fotograf / Autor: Gisela Schenker © Gisela Schenker

Michael Volle, singing Amfortas in Parsifal and Wotan/Wanderer in the Ring Cycle this season; in previous years he has performed Der Holländer, Hans Sachs, and Sixtus Beckmesser at the Bayreuth Festival. Join us in 2026 for this Artists Talks Series, an engaging opportunity to connect with the exceptional performers of the Bayreuth Festival. These intimate sessions offer audiences a rare glimpse behind the scenes as artists reflect on their careers, share insights into their roles and creative processes, and discuss the unique experience of performing at Bayreuth. With a relaxed and informal setting, these conversations provide a deeper understanding of the works the artists bring to life on stage, making each event a memorable encounter with the people behind the music. Michael Volle‘s exceptional vocal talent and powerful stage presence have established the German baritone as one of the most sought-after singers of his generation. Inspired by his teachers Josef Metternich and Rudolf Piernay, he has conquered the stages of the world’s most prestigious opera houses as a heroic baritone, while never losing his passion for the more intimate concert and song repertoire. After early engagements in Mannheim, Bonn, Düsseldorf, and Cologne, he became a member of the ensembles at the Zurich Opera House and the Bavarian State Opera in Munich, where the foundation was laid for an acclaimed international career. This career has since taken him as a guest artist to all major international opera stages, including the opera houses in Berlin, the State Operas of Hamburg, Dresden, Munich, and Vienna, the Festspielhaus Baden-Baden, the Opéra National de Paris, London’s Royal Opera House Covent Garden, the Teatro Real in Madrid, the Liceu in Barcelona, La Scala in Milan, and the Metropolitan Opera in New York, as well as to the Bregenz, Salzburg Festivals, and the Wagner Festival in Bayreuth. Michael Volle has earned particular renown as an interpreter of Richard Wagner’s works. Among his most important roles are Wotan/Wanderer in Wagner’s Ring Cycle and Hans Sachs in Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg. In addition, the roles of Richard Strauss and the major baritone parts of the Italian repertoire, especially those by Giuseppe Verdi, form a central focus of his artistic work. In the 2024/25 season, he appeared in new productions of Rheingold, Walküre, and Siegfried at La Scala in Milan (directed by David McVicar), where the Ring has been completed in the 2025/26 season with two complete cycles. The Vienna State Opera also remains a regular fixture in his calendar; this season he appeared there in two Ring cycles. In November 2025, he returned to the Berlin State Opera Unter den Linden in the title role of Falstaff, having already appeared there as Wotan/Wanderer in September 2025, and he took on the role of Mandryka (Arabella) at the Zurich Opera House. The season concludes with the 150th anniversary of the Bayreuth Festival, where he will perform in two Ring cycles and take on the role of Amfortas in Parsifal. This in-person-only event will take place at the Arvena Kongress Hotel in Bayreuth, Germany. Interview conducted in English.