Christian Immler

With a voice of “warm, noble timbre and great flexibility” (Forum Opéra), German bass-baritone Christian Immler is a multifaceted artist whose career ranges widely across the worlds of lieder, oratorio and opera, “a technically, musically and stylistically consummate interpreter, with a strikingly masculine, truly grounded bass capable of tenoral splendour, exemplary diction and emotional urgency coupled with a deep intellectual textual understanding” (Klassik Heute). His artistry is strongly centred in the baroque and early Classical repertoire, but with a versatility that extends through the 19^th century recital and orchestral tradition and into contemporary works.

Recent operatic highlights have included the role of Fasolt in Das Rheingold with Kent Nagano and Concerto Köln, Telemann’s Orpheus with the B’Rock Orchestra, the Hermit in Der Freischütz at the Opéra de Rouen and the Théâtre des Champs-Elysées, the Musiklehrer in Ariadne auf Naxos in Luxembourg, Don Fernando in Fidelio at the Opéra Comique in Paris, Nettuno in Monteverdi’s Il ritorno d’Ulisse in Patria with Ensemble I Gemelli and Rocco in Beethoven’s Leonore, as well as a recording of the Oberpriester in Joachim Raff’s Samson with the Sinfonieorchester Bern.

On the concert stage, he sang in the world premiere of Detlev Glanert’s ‘Prague Symphony’ with Semyon Bychkov and the Czech Philharmonic, and subsequent performances with the Gewandhausorchester Leipzig and Amsterdam’s Concertgebouw Orchestra; he has been a soloist in Mozart’s C minor Mass with both Ensemble Pygmalion and the Munich Philharmonic, Mozart’s Requiem with the Flanders Symphony, Kindertotenlieder with the Hungarian National Philharmonic Orchestra and in a recording and performances of Haydn’s Stabat Mater and Salve Regina with the Kammerorchester Basel.

In addition, he has sung in a staged performance of the St John Passion for Opera de Dijon and Salzburg Festival. He has also sung in Bach’s B minor mass and further Bach Passion and Cantata projects with Ensemble Pygmalion and Raphaël Pichon, as well as his widely acclaimed recordings of the St Matthew and St John Passions (as Jesus) with Bach Collegium Japan for BIS Records.

Upcoming highlights include a series of performances with Bach Collegium Japan, culminating in a BBC Proms concert in the Royal Albert Hall. Indeed, Bach’s choral works form the backbone of Immler’s repertoire, leading to performances of the B minor Mass with the Czech Philharmonic, and with the Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia, the Christmas Oratorio in Kreuzkirche Dresden, the St John Passion in the Théâtre des Champs-Elysées, and on tour with Ensemble Pygmalion, culminating in its recording. On the operatic stage, Immler will also perform the title role in Telemann’s Don Quichotte and as Seneca in Keiser’s Octavia in the Boston Early Music Festivals.

Christian Immler regularly performs at prestigious venues such as the Amsterdam Concertgebouw, Elbphilharmonie Hamburg, Gewandhaus Leipzig, the Sydney Opera House, the Salzburg, Aix-en-Provence and Lucerne Festivals and the BBC Proms. He maintains strong links with conductors such as Masaaki and Masato Suzuki (Bach Collegium Japan), René Jacobs, Raphaël Pichon, Marc Minkowski, Laurence Equilbey and Jordi Savall, and has collaborated widely with Christophe Rousset, Philippe Herreweghe, Ivor Bolton, Osmo Vänskä, Daniel Harding, Kent Nagano, James Conlon, Andrew Parrott, Ottavio Dantone, Giovanni Antonini, Thomas Hengelbrock, William Christie and Leonardo García Alarcón. His broad orchestral repertoire encompasses Bach, Handel, Vivaldi and their contemporaries, through Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony and Missa solemnis, oratorios and masses of Mozart, Mendelssohn, Schubert and Rossini, the Requiems of Dvorak, Duruflé, Fauré, Brahms and Verdi, to Szymanowski’s Stabat Mater, Zemlinsky’s Lyric Symphony, Kálmán, Poulenc, Vaughan Williams, Korngold and Krenek.

His operatic experience has ranged from Monteverdi’s Seneca and Charpentier’s Achis in David & Jonathasconducted by William Christie, and Jupiter in Rameau’s Castor et Pollux with Raphaël Pichon at the Opéra Comique, through to Pharnaces in Zemlinsky’s Der König Kandaules at the Amsterdam Concertgebouw, and Docteur Itard/Vicaire in the world premiere of Fénelon’s JJR (directed by Robert Carsen) and Dodo/Frog Footman/Mock Turtle in Unsuk Chin’s Alice in Wonderland at the Grand Théâtre de Genève. He has sung Purcell’s Aeneas, Handel’s Saul and Argante (Rinaldo), the Commendatore and Masetto in Don Giovanni with René Jacobs, Speaker in Die Zauberflöte with Christophe Rousset at Dijon Opera and with Raphaël Pichon at the Festival d’Aix-en-Provence (directed by Simon McBurney), Claudio in Berlioz’s Béatrice et Bénédict, Schubert’s Sakontala, and the Gamekeeper in Janacek’s Cunning Little Vixen.

A keen recitalist, Christian has performed at the Wigmore Hall in London, the Frick Collection in New York, the Paris Philharmonie, the Salzburg Mozarteum, and the Tonhalle Zurich. He enjoys a long-time partnership with pianist Helmut Deutsch, with whom he released two albums entitled ‘Modern Times’ and ‘Hidden Treasure’ (songs by Hans Gál) which were awarded both the ‘Diamant d’Opéra’ and the prestigious ‘Diapason Découverte’. He collaborates regularly with Andreas Frese, Kristian Bezuidenhout, Christoph Berner, Danny Driver and Silvia Fraser and alongside his impeccable Lied pedigree retains a soft spot for Leonard Bernstein and Cole Porter.

Following his early training as a boy alto soloist in the Tölzer Knabenchor, Christian Immler studied with Rudolf Piernay at the Guildhall School of Music in London. He is about to finish his doctorate in musicology (‘The diversity of Vienna’s inter bellum song recital scene’).  Much in demand for worldwide masterclasses, Christian is Professor of Voice at the Kalaidos Fachhochschule in Zurich, has taught the Lied and Oratorio class at the International Summer Academy of the Mozarteum Salzburg on several occasions and has served on several jury panels, including at the International Nadia et Lili Boulanger Competition in Paris, from which his own victory launched his career. His more than 60 recordings have been awarded prizes such as a 2016 Grammy Nomination (Steffani’s Niobe), the Echo and Opus Klassik, the Preis der Deutschen Schallplattenkritik, the Gramophone Award, and France Musiques’ Enregistrement de l’année. His recent releases include recitals of Hans Gal’s lieder with Helmut Deutsch for BIS Records, Schumann lieder and the world premiere recording of Jörg Widmann’s Das heiße Herzwith Andreas Frese for Alpha Classics, and the title role in Graupner’s Antiochus und Stratonica with the Boston Early Music Festival on CPO Records.

Updated 13 August 2024