Manfred Hemm (born 1961) is an Austrian opera singer who has sung leading

bass-baritone A bass-baritone is a high-lying bass or low-lying "classical" baritone voice type which shares certain qualities with the true baritone voice. The term arose in the late 19th century to describe the particular type of voice required to sing thr ...

roles in the opera houses of Europe and North America. His discography includes Papageno in ''

The Magic Flute ''The Magic Flute'' (German: , ), K. 620, is an opera in two acts by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart to a German libretto by Emanuel Schikaneder. The work is in the form of a ''Singspiel'', a popular form during the time it was written that inclu ...

'' for Deutsche Grammophon and the bass soloist in Franz Schmidt's oratorio ''

Das Buch Mit Sieben Siegeln ''The Book with Seven Seals'' (''Das Buch mit sieben Siegeln'') is an oratorio in German by the Austrian composer Franz Schmidt, on themes from the biblical Book of Revelation of Saint John. It was completed in 1937 and first presented in 1938 in ...

'' for Chandos. He created the role of Der Stadtrichter in Friedrich Cerha's ''Der Rattenfänger'' (1987) and the title role in Gottfried von Einem's ''Der Tulifant'' (1990) in their world premieres. Kutsch, Karl-Josef and Riemens, Leo (2004)
"Hemm, Manfred"
''

Großes Sängerlexikon ''Großes Sängerlexikon'' (''Biographical Dictionary of Singers'', literally: Large singers' lexicon) is a single-field dictionary of singers in classical music, edited by Karl-Josef Kutsch and Leo Riemens and first published in 1987. The first ...

'', Vol. 4, .

Walter de Gruyter Walter de Gruyter GmbH, known as De Gruyter (), is a German scholarly publishing house specializing in academic literature. History The roots of the company go back to 1749 when Frederick the Great granted the Königliche Realschule in Be ...

. . .

Life and career

Hemm was born in

Mödling Mödling () is the capital of the Austrian Mödling (district), district of the same name located approximately 14 km south of Vienna. Mödling lies in Lower Austria's industrial zone (Industrieviertel). The Mödlingbach, a brook which rises ...

, Austria, and studied at the Vienna Conservatory. He made his debut in 1984 at the

Stadttheater Klagenfurt Stadttheater Klagenfurt is the municipal theatre in Klagenfurt, the capital of Carinthia in Austria. Its present house was designed by the Viennese architecture office Fellner & Helmer, and completed in 1910. History The first theatre in Klage ...

as Figaro in ''

The Marriage of Figaro ''The Marriage of Figaro'' ( it, Le nozze di Figaro, links=no, ), K. 492, is a ''commedia per musica'' (opera buffa) in four acts composed in 1786 by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, with an Italian libretto written by Lorenzo Da Ponte. It premie ...

''. From 1984 to 1987 he sang regularly at the

Opernhaus Graz The Graz Opera (German: Oper Graz) is an Austrian opera house and opera company based in Graz. The orchestra of the opera house also performs concerts as the Graz Philharmonic Orchestra (''Grazer Philharmonisches Orchester''). History Opera h ...

and

Theater Augsburg The Staatstheater Augsburg is a theatre of Augsburg, Germany. Until 1999 it was called Städtische Bühnen Augsburg, from then until the end of August 2018 it was called ''Theater Augsburg''. It offers on four stages musical theatre, plays and bal ...

, specialising in Mozartean roles. Major house debuts followed at the

Bayreuth Festival The Bayreuth Festival (german: link=no, Bayreuther Festspiele) is a music festival held annually in Bayreuth, Germany, at which performances of operas by the 19th-century German composer Richard Wagner are presented. Wagner himself conceived ...

in 1987, the Vienna State Opera in 1988, and the

Metropolitan Opera The Metropolitan Opera (commonly known as the Met) is an American opera company based in New York City, resident at the Metropolitan Opera House at Lincoln Center, currently situated on the Upper West Side of Manhattan. The company is operat ...

in 1991. Amongst his later roles is Rocco in ''

Fidelio ''Fidelio'' (; ), originally titled ' (''Leonore, or The Triumph of Marital Love''), Op. 72, is Ludwig van Beethoven's only opera. The German libretto was originally prepared by Joseph Sonnleithner from the French of Jean-Nicolas Bouilly, with ...

'' which he has sung at the Santa Fe Opera Festival (2014), the Maggio Musicale (2015), and the

Teatro Colón The Teatro Colón (Spanish: ''Columbus Theatre'') is the main opera house in Buenos Aires, Argentina. It is considered one of the ten best opera houses in the world by National Geographic. According to a survey carried out by the acousti ...

(2016). Hemm was formerly married to the English soprano Amanda Roocroft.Moss, Stephen (8 November 2000)
"'This is a horrid job. I would rather be a teacher'"
''

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers ''The Observer'' and ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the Gu ...

''. Retrieved 11 July 2016.

References

External links

*
Manfred Hemm
on Operabase Operatic bass-baritones 20th-century Austrian male opera singers 1961 births People from Mödling Living people 21st-century Austrian male opera singers {{opera-singer-stub