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The Austrian bass, Johann-Werner Prein, first studied psychology and philosophy and later took up his vocal education at the Graz Music Academy, where his teachers included Hans Hotter and Mirella Freni. He won several prizes in international singing competitions.
Johann-Werner Prein's first engagements led him to the Graz Opera, the Liège Opera and the Vienna Festwochen. After his debut as Donner in Rheingold at the Bayreuth Festival he regularly returned to the 'Green Hill'. In the 1989-1990 season he was contracted by the Wiesbaden State Theatre and gave guest performances at the Vienna State Opera, the Vienna Volksoper, the Deutsche Oper am Rhein and the Salzburg Festival.
Apart from bass and dramatic baritone roles like Sarastro in Die Zauberrflöte, Kaspar in Der Freischütz, Mephisto in Faust, van Bett in Zar und Zimmermann, Escamillo in Carmen, Scarpia in Tosca, Orest in Elektra and Magnifico in La Cenerentola, Johann-Werner Prein's repertoire has a strong focus on Wagner roles, among them König Marke in Tristan und Isolde, Landgraf/Biterolf in Tannhäuser, König Heinrich in Lohengrin, Gurnemanz/Amfortas in Parsifal, Wotan in Das Rheingold, Hans Sachs and the title role in Der Fliegende Holländer.
Parallel to his opera carrer Johann-Werner Prein is an accomplished concert and lieder singer. He has appeared with the music festivals of Ravenna, Montpellier and Bergen and was heard at the Berlin and Köln Philharmonic, the Gewandhaus Leipzig, the Meistersingerhalle Nürnberg and the Casino Bern. He has recorded a selection of Schubert songs and participated in complete opera recordings under the baton of Gerd Albrecht and Lothar Zagrosek.
Recent projects include Erster Handwerksbursch in Wozzeck at La Scala Milan and Alberich in Siegfried at the Teatro S. Carlos in Lisbon. |
