Wolfgang Bankl

KS Wolfgang Bankl, a native of Vienna, received violin training before studying voice, art song, oratorio, and opera at the Vienna Conservatory. His early engagements took him to the Wiener Kammeroper, Kiel, and the Tyrolean State Theatre. Guest contracts led him to perform in cities such as Zurich, Hamburg, Cologne, Barcelona, Salzburg, Strasbourg, La Scala, the Vienna Festival, Tokyo, Tel Aviv, Rome, New York, and Paris. In 2012, he debuted as Ochs in Der Rosenkavalier at the Semperoper in Dresden under the baton of Christian Thielemann. In 2015, he performed as Klingsor in Parsifal under Andris Nelsons in Birmingham, an event chosen as the British cultural highlight of the year. A co-founder of the traveling festival Giro d’Arte, he has been a member of the Vienna State Opera ensemble since 1993, where he has sung roles including Papageno, Alberich, Ochs, Doctor (in Wozzeck), Klingsor, Figaro (Le Nozze di Figaro), Harašta (The Cunning Little Vixen), Frank, Waldner, Bartolo, Spirit Messenger, Animal Trainer/Athlete (Lulu), Circus Director (Der Riese vom Steinfeld), La Roche, Leporello, Trinity Moses (The Rise and Fall of the City of Mahagonny), Swallow, Sacristan, and Demagogue/Head Forester (Die Weiden). Since 2007, he has also served as a lecturer at the Allegro Vivo chamber music festival.