Christian Immler

With a voice of “warm, noble timbre and great flexibility” (Forum Opéra), German bass-baritone Christian Immler is a multifaceted artist whose career ranges widely across the worlds of lieder, oratorio and opera, “a technically, musically and stylistically consummate interpreter, with a strikingly masculine, truly grounded bass capable of tenoral splendour, exemplary diction and emotional urgency coupled with a deep intellectual textual understanding.” (Klassik Heute) His artistry is strongly centred in the baroque and early Classical repertoire, but with a versatility that extends through the 19th century recital and orchestral tradition and into contemporary works.

Recent highlights have included Rocco in Beethoven’s Leonore with René Jacobs and the Freiburger Barockorchester, widely acclaimed recordings of the St Matthew and St John Passions (as Jesus) with Bach Collegium Japan for BIS Records, the cantatas of Bach, Werner and Albrechtsberger at Müpa Budapest, Haydn’s Die Schöpfung with the Geneva Chamber Orchestra, Bach’s Magnificat with Les Violons du Roy in Canada and Christmas Oratorio with the Orchester der Klangverwaltung, recital performances of Schubert’s Winterreise and Beethoven’s An die ferne geliebte, and the role of the Hermit in Der Freischütz at the Opéra de Rouen and the Théâtre des Champs-Elysées with Laurence Equilbey. Upcoming highlights include Mahler’s Symphony No.8 with the Minnesota Orchestra, Mendelssohn’s Elijah with Bach Collegium Japan, Haydn’s Stabat Mater and Salve Regina with the Kammerorchester Basel, Mozart’s C minor Mass with Ensemble Pygmalion, Telemann’s Orpheus with the B’Rock Orchestra, the Musiklehrer in Ariadne auf Naxos in Limoges, and Don Fernando in Fidelio at the Opéra Comique in Paris.

Christian Immler performs at prestigious venues such as the Amsterdam Concertgebouw, Elbphilharmonie Hamburg, Gewandhaus zu Leipzig, the Sydney Opera House, the Salzburg, Aix-en-Provence and Lucerne Festivals and the BBC Proms. He maintains strong links with conductors such as Masaaki Suzuki (Bach Collegium Japan), Rene Jacobs, Raphaël Pichon, Marc Minkowski, Laurence Equilbey and Jordi Savall, and has collaborated widely with Christophe Rousset, Philippe Herreweghe, Ivor Bolton, Osmo Vänskä, Daniel Harding, Kent Nagano, James Conlon, Andrew Parrott, Ottavio Dantone, Riccardo Chailly, Giovanni Antonini, Thomas Hengelbrock, William Christie and Leonardo García Alarcón. His broad orchestral repertoire encompasses Bach, Handel, Vivaldi and their contemporaries, though Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony and Missa solemnis, oratorios and masses of Mozart, Mendelssohn, Schubert and Rossini, the Requiems of Dvorak, Duruflé, Fauré, Brahms and Verdi, to Szymanowski’s Stabat Mater, Zemlinsky’s Lyric Symphony, Kálmán, Poulenc, Vaughan Williams, Korngold and Krenek.

His operatic experience has ranged from Monteverdi’s Seneca and Charpentier’s Achis in David & Jonathas conducted by William Christie, and Jupiter in Rameau’s Castor et Pollux with Raphaël Pichon at the Opéra Comique, through to and Pharnaces in Zemlinsky’s Der König Kandaules at the Amsterdam Concertgebouw, and Docteur Itard/Vicaire in the world premiere of Fénelon’s JJR (directed by Robert Carsen) and Dodo/Frog Footman/Mock Turtle in Unsuk Chin’s Alice in Wonderland at the Grand Théâtre de Genève. He has sung Purcell’s Aeneas, Handel’s Saul and Argante (Rinaldo), the Commendatore and Masetto in Don Giovanni with René Jacobs, Speaker in Die Zauberflöte with Christophe Rousset at Dijon Opera and with Raphaël Pichon at the Festival d’Aix-en-Provence (directed by Simon McBurney), Claudio in Berlioz’s Béatrice et Bénédict, Schubert’s Sakontala, and the Gamekeeper in Janacek’s Cunning Little Vixen. 

A keen recitalist, Christian has been performed at the Wigmore Hall in London, the Frick Collection in New York, the Paris Philharmonie, the Salzburg Mozarteum, and the Tonhalle Zurich. He enjoys a long-time partnership with pianist Helmut Deutsch, with whom he released his album entitled ‘Modern Times’ which was awarded both the ‘Diamant d’Opéra’ and the prestigious ‘Diapason Découverte’. Their latest project, devoted exclusively to the newly discovered lieder of Hans Gál and displaying Christian’s particular interest in 20th Century ʻEmigré Composersʼ will be released imminently. He collaborates regularly with Christoph Berner, Kristian Bezuidenhout and Danny Driver and alongside his impeccable Lied pedigree retains a soft spot for Leonard Bernstein and Cole Porter.

Following his early training as a boy alto soloist in the Tölzer Knabenchor, Christian Immler studied with Rudolf Piernay at the Guildhall School of Music in London. Much in demand for worldwide masterclasses, Christian is Professor of Voice at the Kalaidos Fachhochschule in Zurich, has taught the Lied and Oratorio class at the International Summer Academy of the Mozarteum Salzburg on several occasions and has served on several jury panels, including at the International Nadia et Lili Boulanger Competition in Paris, from which his own victory launched his career. His more than 50 recordings have been awarded prizes such as a 2016 Grammy Nomination (Steffani’s Niobe), the Echo Klassik, the Preis der Deutschen Schallplattenkritik, the Gramophone Award, and France Musiques’ Enregistrement de l’année. His most recent release is the title role in Graupner’s Antiochus und Stratonica with the Boston Early Music Festival on CPO Records.