Franz Xaver Schlecht

In the 2025/26 season, Franz Xaver Schlecht makes his debut as Krušina in a new production of The Bartered Bride at the Vienna State Opera.

Most recently, he appeared at the Deutsche Oper am Rhein in Düsseldorf-Duisburg in the new staging of Pierangelo Valtinoni’s family opera Die Reise zu Planet 9 as Oropax. Previously, the German baritone was heard in Zimmermann’s Weiße Rose at the Semperoper Dresden.

Since the 2018/19 season he has been a permanent member of the Leipzig Opera, where he has been successful in roles such as Papageno, Belcore, Schaunard, Peter Besenbinder, Moralès, Ottokar, Giorgio Germont, Enrico, and the Police Chief (Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk).

Early engagements took him to the Deutsche Oper Berlin in Les Contes d’Hoffmann and Salome; to the Theater Coburg as Conte d’Almaviva, Dandini, and the Forester (Rusalka); to the Theater Nordhausen as Don Alfonso; to the children’s opera Prinz Hugo; and to the Theater Erfurt as Kilian (Der Freischütz).

He has also sung the title role in a children’s version of Le nozze di Figaro, the Marchese d’Obigny at the Leipzig Opera, Silvano (Un ballo in maschera) at the Mainfranken Theater Würzburg, Vershinin in Eötvös’ Tri sestri at the Bavarian Theatre Academy and at the Berlin State Opera, and Bill (Rise and Fall of the City of Mahagonny) at the Halle Opera.

Franz Xaver Schlecht first studied at the University of Music in Nuremberg/Augsburg and continued his education at the Leipzig University of Music and the University of Music Würzburg. He also attended masterclasses with Franz Grundheber and Simon Estes.

He made his first stage appearance in 2006 at the Augsburg Theater as Haly (L’italiana in Algeri). Franz Xaver Schlecht has a wide-ranging concert and oratorio repertoire, extending from Bach through Rossini, Schubert, Mozart, Verdi, and Puccini to Mahler and Carl Orff.