Михаэль Фолле
Michael Volle
Opera singer, baritone
German baritone. Born in 1960 in Freudenstadt in southwestern Germany. He graduated from the Trossingen and Stuttgart Higher Schools of Music and Theater and made his debut at the National Theatre Mannheim in 1990. Since 1994, he has been a soloist at the Bonn Opera, from 1999 to 2007 at the Zurich Opera, and from 2008 to 2011 at the Bavarian State Opera. Since 2011, he has been working on contracts.
Folle began his career with roles for a lyrical baritone, such as Guglielmo ("Cosi fan tutte"), Papageno ("The Magic Flute"), Albert ("Werther"), Wolfram ("Tannhäuser"), Marcello ("La Bohème"), and others. At the Bavarian State Opera, he performed roles including Amfortas ("Parsifal"), Don Alfonso ("Cosi fan tutte"), leading roles in "Eugene Onegin" and "Wozzeck"; for his role as Wozzeck, he was awarded the German Theatre Award "Faust" in 2009.
As a guest soloist, he has appeared in many European opera houses, including the Vienna State Opera, the State Opera Unter den Linden in Berlin, the Royal Opera Covent Garden, La Scala, the Paris National Opera, La Monnaie, the Bolshoi Theatre, and the Salzburg Festival. In 2007, he made his debut at the Bayreuth Festival in "Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg" (as Beckmesser); in 2017, he performed the title role of Hans Sachs in a production by Barrie Kosky. In 2019, he debuted at the Metropolitan Opera as Mandryka ("Arabella") and later performed the role of Hans Sachs there.
Other notable roles in the singer's repertoire include the Flying Dutchman in Wagner's opera of the same name, Falstaff in Verdi's opera, and Wotan in Wagner's "The Ring of the Nibelung".
Folle began his career with roles for a lyrical baritone, such as Guglielmo ("Cosi fan tutte"), Papageno ("The Magic Flute"), Albert ("Werther"), Wolfram ("Tannhäuser"), Marcello ("La Bohème"), and others. At the Bavarian State Opera, he performed roles including Amfortas ("Parsifal"), Don Alfonso ("Cosi fan tutte"), leading roles in "Eugene Onegin" and "Wozzeck"; for his role as Wozzeck, he was awarded the German Theatre Award "Faust" in 2009.
As a guest soloist, he has appeared in many European opera houses, including the Vienna State Opera, the State Opera Unter den Linden in Berlin, the Royal Opera Covent Garden, La Scala, the Paris National Opera, La Monnaie, the Bolshoi Theatre, and the Salzburg Festival. In 2007, he made his debut at the Bayreuth Festival in "Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg" (as Beckmesser); in 2017, he performed the title role of Hans Sachs in a production by Barrie Kosky. In 2019, he debuted at the Metropolitan Opera as Mandryka ("Arabella") and later performed the role of Hans Sachs there.
Other notable roles in the singer's repertoire include the Flying Dutchman in Wagner's opera of the same name, Falstaff in Verdi's opera, and Wotan in Wagner's "The Ring of the Nibelung".