Bernd Weikl

Bernd Weikl (born Vienna, 29 July 1942) is an Austrian operatic baritone, best known for his performances in the operas of Richard Wagner.

Early career

He studied first in Mainz and then in Hanover, where he made his operatic debut as Ottakar in Der Freischütz in 1968. From 1970 to 1973 he was a member of the company at the Düsseldorf Opera.

Major debuts

Weikl debuted at the Salzburg Festival in 1971 as Melot in Tristan und Isolde, at the Bayreuth Festival in 1972 as Wolfram in Tannhäuser, at the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, in 1975 as Figaro in The Barber of Seville, at the Metropolitan Opera in 1977 as Wolfram, at La Scala in 1980 as Ford in Falstaff.

Roles

Weikl has sung over 120 roles during his career. Pride of place goes to his Hans Sachs in Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg, which he has sung in all the major opera houses of the world. Other roles include:

• The title roles in Don Giovanni, Rigoletto, Eugene Onegin and The Flying Dutchman
• Count Almaviva in The Marriage of Figaro
• Amfortas in Parsifal
• Belcore in L'elisir d'amore
• di Luna in Il trovatore
• Eisenstein in Die Fledermaus
• Ford in Falstaff
• Golaud in Pelléas et Mélisande
• Guglielmo in Così fan tutte
• Jokanaan in Salome
• Mandryka in Arabella
• Cardinal Morone in Palestrina
• Rodrigo in Don Carlos
• Tomsky in The Queen of Spades
• Zurga in Les pêcheurs de perles
• Wolfram in Tannhäuser

Selected recordings

• Carmina Burana (Orff): James Levine conducting the Chicago Symphony Orchestra and Chorus, with June Anderson, Phillip Creech and Bernd Weikl (1984) (DG)
• Die Fledermaus (Johann Strauss II): Carlos Kleiber conducting the Orchestra of the Bavarian State Opera, with Hermann Prey, Julia Varady, Lucia Popp, René Kollo, Ivan Rebroff, Bernd Weikl (1975) (DG)
• The Flying Dutchman (Richard Wagner): Giuseppe Sinopoli conducting the Berlin State Opera Orchestra, with Bernd Weikl, Cheryl Studer, Hans Sotin, Plácido Domingo, Peter Seiffert, Uta Priew (1991)
• Der Freischütz (Carl Maria von Weber): Carlos Kleiber conducting the Staatskapelle Dresden, with Gundula Janowitz, Edith Mathis, Peter Schreier, Theo Adam, Bernd Weikl, Siegfried Vogel, Franz Crass, (1973) (DG)
• Götterdämmerung (Richard Wagner): James Levine conducting the Metropolitan Opera Orchestra, with Hildegard Behrens, Reiner Goldberg, Matti Salminen, Hanna Schwarz, Cheryl Studer, Bernd Weikl, Ekkehard Wlaschiha (1991) (1992 Grammy Award for Best Opera Recording)
• Lohengrin (Richard Wagner): Woldemar Nelsson conducting the Bayreuth Festival, with Peter Hofmann, Karan Armstrong, Bernd Weikl (1982) (CBS)
• Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg (Richard Wagner): Horst Stein conducting the Orchester der Bayreuther Festspiele, with Bernd Weikl, Siegfried Jerusalem, Hermann Prey, Mari Anne Häggander, Graham Clark. Staged by Wolfgang Wagner, Video Director Brian Large, (1984) (Unitel), VHS
• Parsifal (Richard Wagner): Rafael Kubelík conducting the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra, with James King, Kurt Moll, Bernd Weikl and Yvonne Minton, (1980) (Arts Archives, stereo)
• Il segreto di Susanna (Ermanno Wolf-Ferrari): Lamberto Gardelli, conducting the Orchestra of the Royal Opera House Covent Garden, with Maria Chiara, Bernd Weikl and Omar Godknow (1977) (Decca)
• Tiefland (Eugen d'Albert): Marek Janowski, conducting the Münchner Rundfunkorchester, with Bernd Weikl, Eva Marton and René Kollo (1983) (ARTS 47501-2)
• Rigoletto (Giuseppe Verdi): Lamberto Gardelli, conducting the Münchner Rundfunkorchester, with Giacomo Aragall and Lucia Popp (1984) (RCA)

References

• New Grove Dictionary of Opera, vol 4 p. 1124