Michael Nagy

The German baritone Michael Nagy, who was born in 1976 to a family with Hungarian roots, had his first musical training as a member of the Hymnus Choirboys of Stuttgart. He completed his vocal studies with Rudolf Piernay at the Mannheim Academy of Music and studied art song interpretation with Irwin Gage in Saarbrücken; he additionally took lessons in conducting for two years. In 2004 Nagy won the International Lied Competition of the Hugo Wolf Academy in Stuttgart and became a member of the ensemble of the Komische Oper Berlin. After two seasons he transferred to Frankfurt Opera, where he was a member for five years before becoming a freelance artist. Nagy’s repertoire ranges from Baroque opera to works of the 20th century and encompasses German as well as Italian and French roles. He has performed Count Luna in Pfitzner’s Palestrina at the Bavarian Staatsoper and Nardo in Mozart’s La finta giardiniera at the Theater an der Wien under René Jacobs. In 2011 Nagy made his debut as Wolfram in Tannhäuser at the Bayreuth Festival, and in 2013 he appeared as Papageno in Mozart’s The Magic Flute under the baton of Simon Rattle at the Baden-Baden Easter Festival. As a concert singer he regularly collaborates with Philippe Herreweghe, some examples including performances of Bach’s St. Matthew Passion in New York and of Mendelssohn’s Elijah in Amsterdam. Riccardo Chailly, Christoph Eschenbach, Paavo Järvi, and Helmuth Rilling are also among his artistic partners. The art song is of special importance for Nagy, who recently was joined by Gerold Huber to present an evening of Eichendorff in Frankfurt and Cologne.

May 2013