Thomas Johannes Mayer

Biography

German baritone Thomas Johannes Mayer first studied history, German language and literature, music education and philosophy, before beginning his vocal training at the College of Music in Cologne with Liselotte Hammes and Kurt Moll.

Following on from initial engagements in Regensburg and Darmstadt, Thomas J. Mayer enjoyed acclaim at the municipal theatre in Basel in the title role of Mozart’s opera Don Giovanni and as Achilles in Othmar Schoeck’s Penthesilea (Director Hans Neuenfels). Thomas J. Mayer was also greatly praised when he played Wotan/Wanderer in Wagner’s The Ring of the Nibelung at the Badisches Staatstheater in Karlsruhe and the title role in Hindemith’s Mathis der Maler. In the 2008/09 season he moved to the Hamburgischen Staatsoper, where he played a number of roles including the four villains (Les сontes d’Hoffmann), Mandryka (Arabella), Kaspar (Der Freischütz), Jochanaan (Salome), Wotan (Die Walküre), Rigoletto and Scarpia (Tosca).

Thomas J. Mayer has been a freelance artist since 2010.

His international career began in the 2007/08 season, playing the title role in Berg’s Wozzeck (directed by Jürgen Flimm) at La Scala in Milan, where he was subsequently engaged as Posa for the new production of Don Carlo in December 2009.

Since then, Thomas Johannes Mayer has guested at many opera houses including De Nederlands Opera in Amsterdam, the Theater Basel, the Théâtre Royal de la Monnaie in Brussels, the Royal Opera House Covent Gaden, the Deutsche Oper Berlin, the Staatsoper Unter den Linden and Komische Oper in Berlin, the Deutsche Oper am Rhein in Dusseldorf, the Aalto Theater Essen, the Hamburgischen Staatsoper, the opera houses in Cologne and Leipzig, Teatro alla Scala in Milan, the Bayerischen Staatsoper in Munich, the Opéra National de Paris, the New National Theatre Tokyo, Palau de les Arts Reina Sofia in Valencia, Theater an der Wien, the Opernhaus in Zurich and at the Bregenz Music Festival, the Herodus Atticus festival in Athens, the Bayreuth Festival (2012, 2013, 2016, 2017, 2018), the Salzburg Festival (2010 and 2011), the Boston Symphony Orchestra and the Odense Symfoniorkester.

His repertoire encompasses both the great Strauss and Wagner roles such as Barak (Die Frau ohne Schatten), Jochanaan (Salome), Mandryka (Arabella), Amfortas (Parsifal), Telramund (Lohengrin), Wotan/Wanderer (The Ring of the Nibelung), Dutchman (The Flying Dutchman) as well as roles such as Moses in Schoenberg’s Moses and Aaron, Thoas in Gluck’s opera Iphigenia in Tauris and Mizguir in Rimsky-Korsakov’s The Snow Maiden.

Recent engagements include as Graf Andrae Vitelozzo Tamare in Franz Schreker’s Die Gezeichneten at the Opernhaus in Zurich, Telramund in Wagner’s Lohengrin at the National Theatre in Prag and at the Bayreuth Festival, Wassermann in Dvorák’s Rusalka at the Opéra national de Paris, the title role in Manfred Trojahn’s Orest, Don Pizarro (Fidelio) and Amfortas (Parsifal), Pizarro in a new production of Leonore at the Wiener Staatsoper, Wotan (Die Walküre) at the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam and Mandryka (Arabella) and the title role in Wagner’s The Flying Dutchman at the Oper Leipzig.

Thomas J. Mayer has worked with famous conductors like Daniel Barenboim, Semyon Bychkov, Daniele Gatti, Philippe Jordan, Vladimir Jurowski, Zubin Mehta, Kent Nagano, Andris Nelsons, Sir Simon Rattle, Donald Runnicles, Ulf Schirmer, Stefan Soltesz, Christian Thielemann and Simone Young.