Albert Dohmen

The bass-baritone Albert Dohmen, a native of Krefeld, Germany, initially studied oboe and then law. At the same time he took private voice lessons with Gladys Kuchta and began his singing career in 1982 in the Deutsche Oper am Rhein opera studio. With his performance in 1997 of the title role of a new production of Berg’s Wozzeck conducted by Claudio Abbado and directed by Peter Stein at the Salzburg Easter Festival, his international reputation began its rapid ascent. Since then Dohmen has been a regular guest singing the great heldenbaritone and character roles on major stages around the world. He has appeared as Amfortas in Parsifal at the Lindenoper in Berlin and at the Opéra National de Paris, as Jochanaan in Strauss’s Salome in a new production at Zurich Opera and at the Metropolitan Opera in New York, and as Hans Sachs (Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg) at the Grand Théâtre de Genève. Among his signature roles are Wagner’s Dutchman and Wotan and the Wanderer in the Ring cycle, which he has recently performed at such venues as the Bayreuth Festival (2007–10), the Vienna  Staatsoper (2011), and the Gran Teatre del Liceu in Barcelona (2013). Dohmen has moreover studied several bass roles, such as Gurnemanz in Parsifal, King Heinrich in Lohengrin, and King Marke in Tristan und Isolde. In addition his artistry encompasses certain works of the Italian, French, and Russian repertoire, such as Puccini’s Tosca (Scarpia), Bizet’s Carmen (Escamillo), and Tchaikovsky’s Pique Dame (Tomsky). He appears on several recordings of complete operas under the baton of Georg Solti and Riccardo Chailly.

LUCERNE FESTIVAL debut on 27 August 2002 as Amfortas in a semi-staged performance of Parsifal led by Claudio Abbado.

May 2013