Olaf Bär

Biography

Because the mid-’80s, Olaf Bär continues to be counted one of the even more prominent German baritones of his generation. He offers sung essential operatic roles within the functions of Richard Strauss, Mozart, Weber, and many more, but has specifically distinguished himself within the lieder of Schubert and Schumann. Bär was created in Dresden, Germany, on Dec 19, 1957. As a kid he exhibited uncommon vocal skill and, in 1968, was used in to the Dresden Children’s Choir. He ultimately began studies on the Hochschule für Musik in his indigenous town. In his mid-twenties he got a string of initial prizes at main vocal tournaments that included the Dvorák competition in Karlovy Vary, Czechoslovakia (1982), and London’s Walther Grüner Lieder Competition (1983). 1985 was a pivotal season for Bär: he joined up with the Dresden Condition Opera, produced his first documenting with EMI and in addition debuted at Covent Backyard performing Harlequin in Strauss’ Ariadne auf Naxos. That premiere EMI documenting was an acclaimed lieder disk of Schumann’s Dichterliebe, Op. 48, and Liederkreis, Op. 39. He’d later record additional lieder repertory, including Schubert’s Die schöne Müllerin, which garnered him a Gramophone Honor. In 1986 Bär obtained a set of successes when he made an appearance at both La Scala as well as the Vienna Condition Opera portraying Papageno from Mozart’s The Magic Flute, a job he’d reprise in his American debut in the Chicago Lyric Opera in 1996. Looks at Glyndebourne in 1987 and 1991 in Richard Strauss and Mozart operas additional fueled his meteoric ascent, an ascent that barely slowed once the vocalist confronted and overcame probably career-ending vocal complications over a extend of nearly 2 yrs. Bär made several recordings within the middle-’90s with additional major performers, including Anne Sofie von Otter (of Wolf’s Spanisches Liederbuch in 1995) and Dawn Upshaw (of Wolf’s Italienisches Liederbuch in 1996). Bär continued to be energetic on the operatic stage despite his developing focus on the lieder genre as well as the tremendous successes it has taken him. In the 1999 Vienna Fesitival he sang Dr. Falke in Die Fledermaus, a job he effectively reprised in the 2001 Salzburg Event. That same 12 months he also made an appearance in Schubert’s Alfonso und Estrella in the Zurich Opera Home. In Paris in 2005, he once more reprised one of is own favorite functions, that of Papageno. Bär offers lived the majority of his existence in Dresden.

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