Bernhard Berchthold

Biography

The Austrian tenor Bernhard Berchtold studied at the Mozarteum in Salzburg with Horiana Brănișteanu and attended the Lieder class of Hartmut Höll. After winning several prizes in international singing competitions, he obtained his first engagements at the Handel Festival in Karlsruhe. At the Baden State Theatre in Karlsruhe between 2003 and 2011, he was able to develop an extensive repertoire which includes such roles as Belmonte (»Die Entführung aus dem Serail«), Ferrando (»Così fan tutte«), Don Ottavio (»Don Giovanni«), Tamino (»Die Zauberflöte«) and the title role in »Idomeneo«, plus Lenski (»Eugen Onegin«), Alfredo (»La traviata«), the title role in Massenet's »Werther« and Aschenbach (»Death in Venice«). In the 2009/2010 season, he made his début at the Teatro de la Maestranza in Seville and at the Semperoper in Dresden in the part of Henry (»Die schweigsame Frau«). Other guest engagements have taken him to such venues as the Teatro Comunale Bologna, the Teatro Carlo Felice Genova, the Hanover and Munich State Operas, the Opéra Lyon, La Scala in Milan, the Teatro Verdi Trieste and Vienna's Theater an der Wien, plus the Salzburg Festival, where he sang the tenor roles in »Die Schuldigkeit des ersten Gebots«, »Bastien und Bastienne« and »Der Schauspieldirektor« in the Mozart year of 2006.
In addition, Bernhard Berchtold is a popular recitalist and oratorio singer. He has worked here with such conductors as Howard Arman, Christian Arming, Nikolaus Harnoncourt, Ton Koopman, Simon Rattle, Helmuth Rilling and Sebastian Weigle.
More recent engagements have included his début as Max (»Der Freischütz«) at the Opera House in Nice and at the Styriarte in Graz, Edwin (»Die Csárdásfürstin«) and Don Ottavio at the Deutsche Oper am Rhein in Düsseldorf, Achilles (Gluck's »Iphigenie in Aulis«) at the Pfalztheater Kaiserslautern and Tamino at the Teatro Lirico di Cagliari.