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Wolf Matthias Friedrich (Bass-Baritone) |
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Born: June 21, 1957 - Schönheide, Saxony, Germany |
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The German bass-baritone, Wolf Matthias Friedrich, studied singing at the Hochschule für Musik Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy in Leipzig with Professor Eva Schubert. In 1980 he was a prize-winner at the International Dvořák Competition in Karlovy Vary. From 1982 to 1986 he was a member of the Opera Studio of the Staatsoper Dresden, interrupted by basic military service as a construction soldier (soldier without a weapon) in the National People's Army of the GDR from 1983 to 1984. In 1988 he moved with his first wife and two daughters Elisa and Alma to the Federal Republic of Germany. Since 1996 he has been living in his adopted home in the Vogtland. He is married for the second time to the lawyer Ulrike Stehlin-Friedrich.
Wolf Matthias Friedrich began his singing career in 1982. In 1999, he appeared in opera productions at the Schwetzinger Festspiele (Joseph Haydn's Armida) and the Musikfestspiele Potsdam (George Frideric Handel's Aci, Galatea e Polifemo). In 2000 he sang Plutone in the opera La Divisione del Mondo by Giovanni Legrenzi under the musical direction of Thomas Hengelbrock and staged by Philippe Arlaud at the Schwetzinger Festspiele and the Festwochen der Alten Musik in Innsbruck. In 2002-2003 he sang Licomede in G.F. Handel's opera Deidamia at the Händelfestspiele Halle, conducted by Alessandro De Marchi and staged by Nicholas Broadhurst.
Engagements as an opera and concert singer with conductors such as Howard Arman, Michel Corboz, Alessandro De Marchi, Rafael Frühbeck de Burgos, Roy Goodman, Philippe Herreweghe, Marek Janowski, Konrad Junghänel, Fabio Luisi, Rudolf Lutz, Nicholas McGegan, Kurt Masur, David Timm, etc, have taken Wolf Matthias Friedrich to opera houses and concert halls on all continents and have been documented in numerous radio and CD/DVD productions. He worked with Norman Shetler in various Lieder projects (Franz Schubert, Felix Mendelssohn, Carl Loewe). In 2004, he sang Elias by Felix Mendelssohn at the Folle Journée in Nantes and the Festa da Música in Lisbon under the baton of Peter Neumann.
Concert projects under the musical direction of Paul Dyer took Wolf Matthias Friedrich to Sydney (Australian Brandenburg Orchestra) and Kuala Lumpur (Malaysian Philharmonic Orchestra) in 2004. In May 2005 and 2007 he made successful concert debuts with works by Richard Wagner - as Holländer (Der fliegende Holländer) and Hans Sachs (Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg) - under the direction of David Timm in Leipzig. In the 2006-2007 season, he sang Publio in W.A. Mozart's La clemenza di Tito in a production by Ursel and Karl-Ernst Herrmann and under the musical direction of Alessandro De Marchi at the Estates Theater in Prague, where the work had been premiered.
Wolf Matthias Friedrich has participated in numerous world premieres of works by contemporary composers (Shih's Vatermord, Hans Georg Pflüger, Wilfried Maria Danner and others). He also participeted in Udo Zimmermann's Weiße Rose in the permiere of the work in the GDR.
In 2002 he was one of the co-founders of the Kerll-Rosenmüller-Fest, which was held annually from 2002 to 2006 to promote the musical heritage of the composers Johann Kaspar Kerll (1627-1693), Johann Rosenmüller (1615-1684) and Sebastian Knüpfer (1633-1676), who were born in his Vogtland homeland.
In May 2008 Wolf Matthias Friedrich sang Zoroastro in G.F. Handel's opera Orlando under the musical direction of Nicholas McGegan and the staging of Catherine Turocy at the at the Deutsches Theater Göttingen on the occasion of the Internationale Händel-Festspiele. In August 2009 the production was revived at the legendary Drottningholms Slottsteater. In August 2011 he sang this role under the baton of Nicholas McGegan with the Philharmonia Baroque Orchestra at the Ravinia Festival, the Mostly Mozart Festival New York and the Tanglewood Music Festival. In autumn 2008 he played Osmin in W.A. Mozart's Die Entführung aus dem Serail at the Schloßtheater in the New Palace in Potsdam Sanssouci under the musical direction of Konrad Junghänel and staged by Uwe Eric Laufenberg. This production premiered again on November 26, 2010 in a resumption of the Oper Köln at the Palladium in Köln-Mülheim and was celebrated by Kurdish audiences in March 2011 in Sulaimania as the first opera performance in Iraq. The successful production could be experienced again in 2015 and 2017 in a new version at the Great House of the Hessisches Staatstheater Wiesbaden.
In May/June 2009 Wolf Matthias Friedrich could be heard in the role of Meraspe in G.F. Handel's opera Admeto at the Deutsches Theater in Göttingen under the musical direction of Nicholas McGegan and the staging of Doris Dörrie as part of the Göttingen Internationale Händel-Festspiele. This production was also performed at the Edinburgh International Festival in August 2009. In October 2009 he made his debut as Taddeo in Gioachino Rossini's L’italiana in Algeri at the Oper Köln under the musical direction of Will Humburg (Jean-Pierre Ponnelle, staging, stage and costumes). In spring 2010 he was again Zoroastro in G.F. Handel's Orlando under the musical direction of Alessandro De Marchi in a production by Alexander Mørk-Eidem at the Komische Oper Berlin. In June 2010, he sang Masetto in W.A. Mozart's Don Giovanni at the Oper Köln under the musical direction of Markus Stenz and the staging of Uwe Eric Laufenberg. In October/November 2010 (resumption at the Palladium in Köln in April 2012) he sang Seneca in Claudio Monteverdi's L'incoronazione di Poppea under the musical direction of Konrad Junghänel in a spectacular production of the Oper Köln, staged by Dietrich Hilsdorf in the former Gerling-Quartier Köln.
Kurt Weill's Aufstieg und Fall der Stadt Mahagonny brought Wolf Matthias Friedrich in 2011 at the Oper Köln as Alaskawolfjoe together with Katharina Thalbach and Lothar Königs in an impressive production. He sang Argante in G.F. Handel's Rinaldo in 2011 at the Oper Köln under the musical direction of Alessandro De Marchi. He performed this role again in 2012 at the Estates Theater in Prague in a production by Louise Moaty and conducted by Václav Luks. In 2012, he embodied Tempo and Nettuno in Claudio Monteverdi's Il ritorno d’Ulisse in aproduction by the Oper Köln. In the same year, after a revival of L'incoronazione di Poppea at the Oper Köln, he had the opportunity to perform Caronte and Plutone in a semi-staged production of Claudio Monteverdi's L'Orfeo with the Australian Brandenburg Orchestra under the musical direction of Paul Dyer in Brisbane, Sydney and Melbourne. He was nominated for a Helpmann Award for his portrayal.
In 2014 Wolf Matthias Friedrich was invited by the Oper Köln to sing Oberlin in Wolfgang Rihm's chamber opera Lenz at the Trinitatiskirche Köln under the musical direction of Alejo Pérez. The ambitious staging was in the hands of Béatrice Lachaussée. In the same year he sang Consalvo in G.F. Handel's first opera Almira under the musical direction of Alessandro De Marchi at the Staatsoper Hamburg and at the Festwochen der Alten Musik in Innsbruck.
From 2014 to 2016 Wolf Matthias Friedrich was a member of the ensemble of the Hessisches Staatstheater Wiesbaden. In November 2015, he made his debut at this opera house as Don Alfonso in a successful production of W.A. Mozart's Così fan tutte under the musical direction of Konrad Junghänel and the staging of Uwe Eric Laufenberg. In January/February 2016, he could be seen there as Dikoj in Leoš Janáček's Kát'a Kabanová under the musical direction of Szolt Hamar and in a production by Matthew Wild. This production was resumed in 2018 under the musical direction of Philipp Pointner. In 2016, he sang Warlaam in Modest Mussorgski's Boris Godunov at the under the musical direction of Szolt Hamar. In March 2017, he sang Gremin in Peter Tchaikovsky's Eugene Onegin, staged by Vasily Barkhatov. In 2018, he sang Graf Waldner in Richard Strauss' Arabella under the musical direction of Patrick Lange and the staging of Uwe Eric Laufenberg. |
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Sources:
Liner note to the CD ‘Thuringia Cantat - Vol. 2’ conducted by Wolfgang Unger (Thorofon, 1995)
Wolf Matthias Friedrich Website (October 2019), English translation by Aryeh Oron (April 2021)
German Wikipedia Website (February 2018, April 2021)
Photos 11-15: seeyou-design
Contributed by Aryeh Oron (April 2002, April 2021) |
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Recordings of Bach Cantatas & Other Vocal Works |
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Conductor |
As |
Works |
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Georg Christoph Biller |
Bass |
Radio: BWV 22 [1st] |
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Holger Eichhorn |
Bass |
Selections: BWV 21/9, BWV 23/4, BWV 28/2, BWV 38/1, BWV 64/1, BWV 101/1; BWV 225 |
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Karl Frotscher |
Bass |
BWV 60 |
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Lorenzo Ghielmi |
Bass |
[C-3] (2017, Video): BWV 79 |
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Thomas Hengelbrock |
Bass |
BWV 4
V-2 (2000): BWV 243a [1st recording]
J.K. Kerll: Missa Superba |
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Thomas Hengelbrock |
Bass |
Member of Balthasar-Neumann-Chor:
C-2 (2001): Kyrie c-Moll BWV Anh 26 / Christe g-moll BWV 242, nach Francesco Durante, BWV 4, J.K. Kerll: Missa Superba |
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Matthias Jung |
Bass |
G.P. Telemann: Cantata Ich freue mich im Herren, TWV 1:826 |
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Konrad Junghänel |
Bass |
Member of Cantus Cölln:
[C-3] (2014): BWV 12 [2nd recording], BWV 230, BWV 18, BWV 4 [2nd recording], BWV 227
[C-2] (2017, Video): BWV 14
BWV Anh. III 159, BWV 232
[V-4] (2006): BWV 233-236
BWV 245 |
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Bernhard Klapprott |
Bass |
Member of Cantus Thuringia:
[C-1] (2008, Audio): BWV 21 |
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Rudolf Lutz |
Bass |
DVD/CD: BWV 12, BWV 13, BWV 20, BWV 70, BWV 96, BWV 107, BWV 138, BWV 146, BWV 147; Selection from BWV 166
DVD/CD (2006): BWV 132
DVD/CD (2008): BWV 81
DVD/CD (2018): BWV 114
DVD/CD (2019): BWV 43
BSSG [D15-2] (2021, Video)/Bach-Kantaten N°38: BWV 3
BSSG [D16-13] (2022, Video): BWV 101
BWV 244 |
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Gerald A. Manig |
Bass |
BWV 244 |
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Thomas Platzgummer |
Bass |
Bachkantaten in Vorarlberg [PR-19] (2020, Video): BWV 98, BWV 36 |
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Shunske Sato |
Bass |
NBV-AOB [AB-80] (2022, Video): BWV 80
NBV-AOB [AB-97] (2022, Video): BWV 97
NBV-AOB [AB-117] (2022, Video): BWV 117
NBV-AOB [AB-192] (2022, Video): BWV 192 |
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Michael Schmutte |
Bass |
BWV 245 |
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Wilfried Schnetzler |
Bass |
BWV 78, BWV 137, BWV 243 |
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Johannes Stecher |
Bass |
Video: BWV 248 [2nd] |
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Jarosław Thiel |
Bass |
[VV-3] (2021, Video): BWV 245 [Jesus] |
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David Timm |
Bass |
BWV 36c, BWV 206, BWV 207a, BWV 208a, BWV 215 |
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David Timm & Volker Bräutigam |
Bass |
[V-1] (2003): BWV 247 |
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Wolfgang Unger |
Bass |
BWV 71 |
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Roland Wilson |
Bass |
BWV 2, BWV 7, BWV 38 |
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Links to other Sites |
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Wolf Matthias Friedrich (Official Website) [mostly German]
Wolf Matthias Friedrich (Wikipedia) [German]
Wolf Matthias Friedrich, Bass (Bachkantorei) [German, N/A]
Seminar fuer alte Musik: Woilf Matthias Friedrich - Gesang [German. N/A]
Neumarkter Konzertfreunde: Portrait Wolf Matthias Friedrich [German, NA] |
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