Biography

Matthias Goerne was born in Weimar and studied in Leipzig with Hans-Joachim Beyer, and later, with Elisabeth Schwarzkopf and Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau. He has appeared on the world’s principal opera stages, including the Metropolitan Opera in New York, the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, Teatro Real in Madrid, Paris National Opera, and the Vienna State Opera in roles such as Wolfram, Wozzeck, Bluebeard, Amfortas, Kurwenal, Wotan, Orest, and Jochanaan. He made his San Francisco Symphony debut in 1996.

Mr. Goerne’s 2016-17 season highlights include performances with the orchestras of Boston, Dallas, Philadelphia, Chicago, Los Angeles, and Pittsburgh, the Berlin Philharmonic, Orchestre de Paris, and the Philharmonia Orchestra, as well as a series of song recitals with Leif Ove Andsnes and Markus Hinterhäuser in Dallas, Paris, Brussels, Milan, Madrid, London, and the new LOTTE Hall in Seoul, among many other venues. He continues his world tour of William Kentridge’s production of Winterreise and appears in major European cities with the Freiburg Baroque Orchestra. Mr. Goerne makes his debuts as Jochanaan in Salome at the Vienna State Opera and as Wotan in a concert version of Siegfried with the Hong Kong Philharmonic. In summer 2017 he appears at the Salzburg Festival in the title role in Wozzeck and in a song recital with Daniil Trifonov.

Mr. Goerne is featured on numerous recordings, many of which have received prestigious awards, including four Grammy nominations, an ICMA award, and the Diapason d’Or. Following recordings with Vladimir Ashkenazy and Alfred Brendel for Universal Music, he recently completed recording a twelve-disc series of Schubert songs for Harmonia Mundi (The Goerne/Schubert Edition) with several leading pianists. His latest recordings are of Brahms songs with Christoph Eschenbach and Mahler songs with the BBC Symphony.

From 2001 through 2005, Mr. Goerne taught as an honorary professor of song interpretation at the Robert Schumann Academy of Music in Düsseldorf. In 2001, he was appointed an Honorary Member of the Royal Academy of Music in London.

(May 2017)