Johannes Martin Kränzle
Johannes Martin Kränzle has established himself as one of the leading cavalier and character baritones of his generation. He is a regular guest on the world’s major stages, appearing at the Salzburg, Bayreuth and Bregenz Festivals, at La Scala in Milan, the Glyndebourne and Lucerne Festivals, and at opera houses in London, Paris, Madrid, Vienna, Zurich and Geneva, Berlin, Munich and Hamburg, as well as in San Francisco, Cairo, Sofia, Tel Aviv, Tokyo and Toronto. In 2014 he made a highly successful debut at the Metropolitan Opera in New York.
In addition to his singing career, Kränzle is also active as a composer. In 1997 his chamber opera Der Wurm was awarded a prize at the Berlin composition competition and premiered there; since 2016 his composition Lieder um Liebe has received numerous performances in Germany and abroad. His work Mutationes, a suite for string orchestra, was supported by the German Music Council and premiered with great success by the Hessian State Orchestra Wiesbaden in 2022.
Born in Augsburg, he initially studied violin and music theatre directing before turning to vocal studies in Frankfurt am Main. He was first engaged as an ensemble member in Dortmund, Hanover and Frankfurt. Kränzle was named Singer of the Year by Opernwelt in 2011 and 2018, received the Cologne Opera Prize in 2011 and was awarded Germany’s most important theatre prize, Der Faust, in 2019. In 1991 he became an honorary visiting professor in Natal, Brazil, and from 2013 to 2019 he served as a visiting professor at the Cologne University of Music.
His repertoire comprises more than 130 roles, ranging from Handel, Rossini, Verdi, Strauss and Lehár to Berg and Bartók, and on to Henze and Rihm. Particular focus is placed on Mozart, Wagner and the Slavic repertoire. He also gives regular song recitals and is a highly sought-after oratorio singer.
In 2015 Kränzle was diagnosed with an aggressive, rapidly progressing form of the bone marrow disease MDS. He returned to the stage with great success in 2016, making his debut at the Royal Opera House in London as Don Alfonso in Così fan tutte. Subsequent highlights included Wozzeck at the Paris Opéra, Beckmesser in the new production of Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg at the Bayreuth Festival, Don Pasquale in Zurich, Così fan tutte at the Salzburg Festival during the pandemic years, and the complete Ring des Nibelungen at the Berlin State Opera.
At the Aix-en-Provence Festival in 2024, he gave a sensational solo performance in Peter Maxwell Davies’s Eight Songs for a Mad King. In 2025 he once again had to undergo a stem cell transplant due to acute leukaemia. In the same year he returned to the stage (Zaide at the Salzburg Festival). In 2026 his engagements include Alberich (Götterdämmerung) at La Scala in Milan, Bartolo (Il barbiere di Siviglia) in Hamburg, Gunther (Götterdämmerung) in Paris and Danilo (Die lustige Witwe) in Dresden.
Performances with Johannes Martin Kränzle
with Johannes Martin Kränzle, Dmitry Golovnin, Jörg Schneider, Dmitry Belosselskiy, Marlis Petersen, Conductor: Franz Welser-Möst
Wozzeck
Cast on Thursday 9. April 2026
with Johannes Martin Kränzle, Dmitry Golovnin, Jörg Schneider, Dmitry Belosselskiy, Marlis Petersen, Conductor: Franz Welser-Möst
Wozzeck
Cast on Saturday 11. April 2026
with Johannes Martin Kränzle, Dmitry Golovnin, Jörg Schneider, Dmitry Belosselskiy, Marlis Petersen, Conductor: Franz Welser-Möst
Wozzeck
Cast on Monday 13. April 2026
Abo 15
Ticket information
Einen Wochentag und Lieblingsplätze wählen und fünf Vorstellungen in einer Saison genießen.
In diesem Abo sind folgende Vorstellungen enthalten:
| 29. September 2025 | Tosca |
| 15. Dezember 2025 | La Bohème |
| 12. Jänner 2026 | Kallirhoe (Ballett) |
| 13. April 2026 | Wozzeck |
| 18. Mai 2026 | Der Rosenkavalier |