The German baritone, Walter Köninger, received his education in the years 1959-1962 at the Musikhochschule of Stuttgart with Mrs. Mielsch-Nied, with the well-known tenor Josef Traxel and with Hermann Reutter, who introduced him to the Lied singing. After winning a vocal competition in Hamburg in 1962,
Walter Köninger began his stage career in 1963 at the Opernhaus von Wuppertal (debuting as Marcel in "La Bohème"). From there he moved to the Stadttheater Bremen (1965-1969). In 1969 he became the first lyric and cavalier baritone at the Opernhaus von Frankfurt a.M.; from there in 1975 to the Theater am Gärtnerplatz in Munich, where he was able to develop a successful career spanning many years. He appeared as a guest at the Staatsoper of Stuttgart and Hamburg, at the Staatstheater of Wiesbaden, Hannover, Braunschweig and Karlsruhe, at the Deutsche Oper am Rhein Düsseldorf-Duisburg, at the Opernhaus von Köln, at the Nationaltheater Mannheim, in Aachen, Dortmund, Essen, Bonn, in Freiburg i.Br. and in Mainz. Foreign guest performances took him to Paris, Amsterdam, Vienna, Zagreb, Strasbourg, Bergen in Norway and Wroclaw (Breslau) as well as to international festival events.
From his repertoire for the stage were the title role in Orpheus by Gluck, Guglielmo in W.A. Mozart's Così fan tutte, Masetto in W.A. Mozart's Don Giovanni, Papageno in the W.A. Mozart's Die Zauberflöte, Minister in L.v. Beethoven's Fidelio, Figaro in Barbier von Sevilla, Malatesta in Don Pasquale, Count in the Wildschütz by Lortzing, Sganarelle in Charles Gounod's Le Médecin malgré lui and Pelléas in Pelléas et Mélisande. He also likes to appear in operetta roles and was known as a concert singer.
Recordings: Telefunken (operetta scenes). |