Franz-Josef Selig

Franz-Josef Selig has established himself on the international scene as one of the best-known serious bass baritones. He regularly gives guest performances as Gurnemanz, King Marke, Sarastro, Rocco, Osmin, Daland, Fiesco and Fasolt at all the world’s major opera houses (such as the Vienna State Opera, Bavarian State Opera, Teatro alla Scala di Milano, Teatro Real Madrid, the Parisian opera houses or the Metropolitan Opera New York) and at prestigious festivals such as the Bayreuth and Salzburg Festival and the Festival d’Aix-en-Provence. Opera productions as well as concerts bring him together frequently with renowned orchestras and conductors, such as Christian Thielemann, Sir Simon Rattle, Marek Janowski, Semyon Bychkov, Riccardo Muti, Yannick Nezét-Séguin, Antonio Pappano, Phillipe Jordan, Zubin Mehta and many others.

In addition to his numerous operatic engagements and concert performances it is important to Franz-Josef Selig to find time for lieder recitals.

The Bass singer first studied church music at the Staatliche Hochschule für Musik in Cologne before taking voice classes under Claudio Nicolai. At the beginning of his career he was a member of the Aalto Theatre ensemble in Essen. Since then he is a freelance singer.

Various CD and DVD productions document the artistic range of this remarkable singer – from Bach’s St Matthew Passion over Mozart’s Magic Flute to Der Ring des Nibelungen (DG, Metropolitan Opera New York, 2010), which received a Grammy award in 2013. His lied CD was released under the title Prometheus (AVI) and it unifies songs of Schubert, Wolf and Strauss (accompanied by Gerold Huber on the piano).