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The Austrian bass-baritone Markus Butter, was a member of the Wiener Sängerknaben from 1982 to 1986, and he graduated from the Stiftsgymnasium Kremsmünster in 1991. He received further training at the Johann-Joseph-Fux-Konservatorium Graz and from 1994 at the Universität für Musik und darstellende Kunst Graz. His awards include: 1997: 2nd prize at the international competition "The Schubertlied" in Vienna (1997); Christel Goltz Award (2009).
In 1994, Markus Butter started working as an oratorio and Lieder singer in Austria and Germany. From 1998 to 1999 he was a member of the Junge Ensemble of the Bayerischen Staatsoper, and since 1999 a member of the ensemble of the Bayerischen Staatsoper (1999-2001). He then moved to the Deutsche Oper am Rhein (2001-2005) and in 2005 to the Semperoper Dresden, to which he still belongs today. His growing career has seen him perform throughout Europe, both on the stage and the concert platform. He regularly appears at Dresden State Opera (Die Zauberflöte, La bohème, Madame Butterfly, La traviata), Theater an der Wien, Deutsche Staatsoper, Oper Köln, Teatro Regio di Parma, and the Salzburg Festival
He performed concerts with the Berliner Philharmoniker, Münchner Philharmoniker, MDR Sinfonieorchester Leipzig, Orchestre de Paris, Orchestre de la Suisse Romande (Genève), Orchestra dell'Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia di Roma, Israel Philharmonic Orchestra; and worked with famous conductors such as Zubin Mehta, Bertrand de Billy, Kirill Petrenko, Bruno Bartoletti, Stefan Soltesz and Wolfgang Sawallisch.
His extensive concert and operatic repertoire includes works by J.S. Bach, L.v. Beethoven, Georges Bizet, Johannes Brahms, Benjamin Britten, Donizetti, George Frideric Handel, Haydn, W.A. Mozart, Puccini, Schubert, Strauss, Verdi, Wagner, and Weber, as well as a number of contemporary operas. He has appeared on recordings of Dvořák’s Stabat mater, and J.S. Bach's St John Passion (BWV 245).
In previous seasons Markus Butter has been able to aquire reputation as a demanded artist also for concert performances. Highlights of the previous seasons inlcude the world premiere of Peter Maxwell Davies' Symphonie N°10 with the London Symphony Orchestra conducted by Antonio Pappano. After his debut with the Berliner Philharmoniker under Nikolaus Harnoncourt, he was immediately invited for further concerts under Herbert Blomstedt. Before that, he made his debut with Dresden Staatskapelle under Daniel Harding, the Orchestre de Paris under Paavo Järvi, WDR Sinfonieorchester Köln under Semyon Bychkov, at the Bach Academy in Stuttgart under Helmuth Rilling and the Musikverein in Vienna under Fabio Luisi.
The Royal Danish Opera Copenhagen engaged him for a new production of Krzysztof Penderecki's Teufel von Loudon, directed by Keith Warner. He made his opera debut at the Salzburger Festspiele as Ottokar in a new production of Weber’s Freischütz under Markus Stenz, sang in a new production of Orlando Paladino at the Theater an der Wien under Nikolaus Harnoncourt and made his concert debut at the Teatro alla Scala.
In the summer of 2014 Markus Butter made his debut at the Bregenz Festival in the world premiere of HK Gruber's Geschichten aus dem Wienerwald (July-August 2014) and received excellent reviews. In the same production the baritone returned to Theater an der Wien (March 2015). At the beginning of the last season he sang the role of Lescaut in Puccini's Manon Lescaut at the Theater Essen (October-November 2014). At Dresden State Opera, where he was ensemble member for several years, he performed a.o. the role of Wolfram in Tannhäuser (September-October 2014), Gunther in Götterdämmerung, Germont in La Traviata (January 2014), Marcello in La Bohème (November 2013-July 2014), Conte in W.A. Mozart's Le Nozze di Figaro (August-October 2013), Guglielmo in W.A. Mozart's Cosi fan tutte, Don Giovanni in W.A. Mozart's Don Giovanni (April-May 2013), Musiklehrer in Ariadne auf Naxos (March-April 2014). He is a permanent guest at Theater an der Wien where he sang in the last season the part of Tiger Brown in the new production of Dreigroschenoper. (January 2016).
Markus Butter opens the 2016-2017 season with the part of Kurwenal in the new production of Tristan and Isolde at Graz Opera. Here he can be heard as well as Comte Capulet in Charles Gounod's Romeo et Juliette and in the title role of Il Prigionero. At the Semperoper Dresden he can be seen in W.A. Mozart's Die Zauberflöte, la Bohème and Die Passagierin. Under the baton of Thomas Hengelbrock he will be on tour with J.S. Bach's St John Passion (BWV 245) and with the Aarhus Symphony Orchestra he will sing in G.F. Handel's Messiah. Future projects include his debut at Royal Opera House Covent Garden London (October-November 2018) and his return to Theater an der Wien (March 2018). |
