The Mozarttenor
At that challenging time, the Bregenz City Theater was looking for a lyric tenor for Mozart's opera "Così fan tutte". Just one day after the premiere, I was surprisingly offered the role of "Tamino" in "Die Zauberflöte" at the Vienna State Opera. Some members of the management had attended the performance, primarily to assess a soprano, but in the end it was the tenor who aroused their interest and was hired.
Shortly afterwards, a month later, I found myself on the prestigious stage of the Vienna State Opera, an experience that will remain indelibly etched in my memory. Never before had I sung the role of Tamino, let alone in such a prestigious opera house. My deepest thanks go in particular to the prompter István Cserján, or rather the maestro suggeritore, who guided me through the role with sensitivity. His support was decisive in the Vienna State Opera finding a new Mozart tenor in me - a "successor to Anton Dermota and Waldemar Kmentt", as the newspaper reviews put it.
The comparison with these legendary tenors of the Vienna State Opera filled me with incredible euphoria and joy. These feelings were intensified when Eberhard Waechter, the director of the Vienna State Opera at the time, offered me a contract as a Mozart tenor.
Subsequently, I embodied roles such as "Don Ottavio" in "Don Giovanni", "Belmonte" in "Die Entführung aus dem Serail" and other "Taminos" in "Die Zauberflöte" and appeared in operas by Richard Strauss such as "Arabella" and "Capriccio". Working with outstanding tenor colleagues such as José Carreras, Gösta Winbergh, Plácido Domingo, Ben Heppner, Peter Seiffert and Luciano Pavarotti became a wonderful normality. Among the musical highlights of my early years at the Staatsoper were also the personal encounters with the great conductors such as Horst Stein and Heinrich Hollreiser, as well as with the established Kammersänger of the house.
My career has taken me on to engagements and performances at the world's most prestigious opera houses, including the Bavarian State Opera in Munich, the Royal Opera House Covent Garden, La Scala in Milan, the Palais Garnier and the Opéra Bastille in Paris, the Teatro Colón in Buenos Aires, the Salzburg Festival and many others.
