Thomas Johannes Mayer

Biography

German baritone Thomas Johannes Mayer first studied history, German language and literature, music education and philosophy, before beginning his vocal training at the College of Music in Cologne with Liselotte Hammes and Kurt Moll. Following on from initial engagements in Regensburg and Darmstadt, Thomas J. Mayer enjoyed acclaim at the municipal theatre in Basel in the title role of Mozart's opera Don Giovanni and as Achilles in Othmar Schoeck's Penthesiela (director: Hans Neuenfels). Thomas J. Mayer was also greatly praised when he played Wotan/Wanderer in Wagner's Der Ring des Nibelungen at the Badisches Staatstheater in Karlsruhe and the title role in Hindemith's Mathis der Maler. In the 2008/09 season he moved to the Hamburg State Opera, where he played a number of roles including the four villains (Les contes d'Hoffmann), Mandryka (Arabella), Kaspar (Der Freischütz), Jochanaan (Salome), Wotan (Die Walküre), Rigoletto and Scarpia (Tosca). Thomas J. Mayer has been a freelance artist since 2010. His international career began in the 2007/08 season, playing the title role in Berg's Wozzek (directed by Jürgen Flimm) at La Scala in Milan, where he was subsequently engaged as Posa for the new production of Don Carlo in December 2008/09. Since then, Thomas Johannes Mayer has guested at many opera houses including De Nederlands Opera in Amsterdam, the theatre in Basel, the Théâtre Royal de la Monnaie in Brussels, the Deutsche Oper Berlin, the State Opera Unter den Linden and Komische Oper in Berlin, the Deutsche Oper am Rhein in Düsseldorf, the Aalto Theater Essen, the Hamburg State Opera, the opera houses in Cologne and Leipzig, La Scala in Milan, the Bavarian State Opera in Munich, the Opéra National de Paris, the New National Theatre Tokyo, Palau de les Arts Reina Sofia in Valencia, Theater an der Wien, the Zurich Opera House and at the Bregenz Music Festival, the Herodes Atticus festival in Athens, the Bayreuth Festival (2012, 2013, 2014), the Salzburg Festival (2010 and 2011), the Boston Symphony Orchestra and the Odense Symfoniorkester. His repertoire encompasses both the great Strauss and Wagner roles such as Barak in Die Frau ohne Schatten, Jochanaan, Mandryka,Amfortas, Telramund, Wotan/Wanderer, Dutchman in Der fliegende Holländer as well as roles such as Moses in Schoenberg’s Moses und Aron, Thoas in Gluck’s opera Iphigenia in Tauris and Mizguir in Rimsky-Korsakov’s The Snow Maiden. Current engagements include Telramund at the Deutsche Oper in Berlin, Jochanaan at the Zurich Opera House and a role in a new production at the Staatsoper Unter den Linden in Berlin, his role debut as Sir John Falstaff at Opera Vlaanderen in Antwerp/Gent, his debut at the Royal Opera House Covent Garden as Telramund in a new production of Lohengrin and Amfortas in Parsifal at the 2018 Bayreuth Festival. Thomas J. Mayer has worked with famous conductors like Daniel Barenboim, Daniele Gatti, Philippe Jordan, Zubin Mehta, Kent Nagano, Andris Nelsons, Sir Simon Rattle, Donald Runnicles, Ulf Schirmer, Stefan Soltesz, Christian Thielemann and Simone Young.