Jochen Schmeckenbecher

Jochen Schmeckenbecher hails from Hockenheim and studied with Kurt Moll at Cologne University of Music. After launching his career at Theater Hagen and Komische Oper Berlin, he has sung the main roles in his fach at international opera houses and concert halls. He focuses on the German-language repertoire and performs roles such as Amfortas and Klingsor (»Parsifal«), Kurwenal (»Tristan und Isolde«), the Music Master (»Ariadne auf Naxos«), Faninal (»Der Rosenkavalier«), Peter Besenbinder (»Hansel und Gretel«), Pizarro (»Fidelio«), Orestes (»Elektra«), Spielmann (»Königskinder«), Eisenhardt (»Die Soldaten«), the title role in »Wozzeck«, and Dr. Schön (»Lulu«). He has also sung Dr. Kolenatý (»Věc Makropulos«), Colonel Ollendorf (»Der Bettelstudent«), Zsupán (»Der Zigeunerbaron«), Baron Gondremark (»Pariser Leben«) and the title role in »Man of La Mancha«. He has consistently enjoyed notable success as Alberich (»Ring des Nibelungen«), amongst others at the Berlin State Opera, Hamburg State Opera and Wiener Staatsoper, Oper Frankfurt, Leipzig Opera, Deutsche Oper am Rhein, the Tanglewood Festival and the Berliner Philharmonie. Since his role début as the Music Master at the Wiener Staatsoper in 2010, he has developed close ties to the opera house and regularly sings roles there such as Alberich, Amfortas, Klingsor, Kurwenal, Don Pizarro, Faninal, Frank (»Die Fledermaus«), Speaker (»Die Zauberflöte«) and the Music Master. Other engagements have taken him to Staatsoper Dresden, Bavarian State Opera, Staatsoper Stuttgart, Opéra national de Paris, Royal Opera House Covent Garden, the Met in New York, La Scala Milan, Liceu Barcelona, Teatro real Madrid, Theater an der Wien, Volksoper Wien, the Salzburg Festival and to Dallas Opera, Aalto-Musiktheater in Essen, Opéra de Lyon, Opera Philadelphia, San Francisco Opera and Teatro Regio di Torino. He has worked with the Berlin Philharmonic, the Boston Symphony Orchestra, the Dallas Symphony Orchestra, Symphoniker Hamburg, the London Philharmonic Orchestra, NDR Radiophilharmonie, the Wiener Symphoniker, Vienna Radio Symphony Orchestra, Tonkünstler Orchestra and the Berlin Radio Symphony Orchestra. Upcoming engagements will take him to Opéra national de Paris, Royal Opera House Covent Garden, the Bavarian State Opera in Munich, Deutsche Oper am Rhein, Theater Basel, the Spring Festival of Tokyo Opera Nomori, and the Tonkünstler Orchestra, the Dresden Philharmonic and to Brucknerhaus Linz. Scheduled role débuts include Scarpia (»Tosca«) and Kaspar (»Der Freischütz«).