Falk Struckmann, who was born in Heilbronn, made his operatic debut in 1985 in Kiel. The second phase of his career took him to the Theater Basel, where he learned the essential roles of his repertoire. Ever since his debut at the Vienna Staatsoper in 1991, Struckmann has established an international reputation for his interpretations of the dramatic bass-baritone repertoire. He has appeared on leading stages around the world not only in German operatic roles (such as Orest, Pizarro, the Dutchman, Jochanaan, Telramund, Hans Sachs, and Wozzeck), but also in such Italian operas as Aida, Otello, and Tosca. His opera and concert engagements have taken him to the Berlin and the Munich Staatsoper, La Scala in Milan, the Royal Opera House in London, the Chicago Lyric Opera, and the Metropolitan Opera in New York. The Bayreuth Festival engaged him for the first time in the summer of 1993 as Kurwenal in Tristan und Isolde. He made his Salzburg Festival debut in 2000 with the same role; in 2008 he appeared there to perform the title role of Duke Bluebeard’s Castle by Béla Bartók. One of Falk Struckmann’s principal roles is that of Wotan/the Wanderer in Der Ring des Nibelungen, which he has sung in the last two seasons in new productions at the Hamburg Staatsoper and the National Opera of Paris. In addition, he has recently appeared as Borromeo in Pfitzner’s Palestrina at Bavarian Staatsoper and at Frankfurt Opera. Falk Struckmann has also committed several of his roles to disc, most notably in recordings of Elektra, Lohengrin, Fidelio, Der Fliegende Holländer, and Duke Bluebeard’s Castle. His appearances in Bayreuth Festival productions of Tristan, Götterdämmerung, and Parsifal are likewise available on DVD. In fall 2007, Falk Struckmann was named a Kammersänger of Austria.

LUCERNE FESTIVAL debut on August 26, 2004 as Pizarro in a concert performance of Fidelio under the baton of Daniel Barenboim.

May 2010