Biography

Baritone Florian Boesch is one of Austria's foremost lieder interpreters, having performed Schubert's Winterreise, D. 911, in many countries. He also has a large repertory of operatic roles and concert vocal music. Boesch was born on May 17, 1971, in Saarbrücken, West Germany, but grew up in Austria. He had his first singing lessons from a grandmother, Ruthilde Boesch, who was a professional singer. In 1997, he enrolled at the Hochschule für Musik und darstellende Kunst in Vienna, studying with Robert Holl. He made his debut as a lieder singer in 2002 at the Schubertiade in Schwarzenberg, Austria, and the following year, his operatic debut at the Zurich Opera House in Switzerland as Papageno in Mozart's Die Zauberflöte, K. 620. Since then, Boesch has gained renown in both art song and opera. He is especially noted as a Schubert interpreter, performing Die Winterreise in cities as far afield as New York and Tokyo, as well as at Wigmore Hall in London. Often accompanied by pianist Malcolm Martineau, he has also performed Schubert's other song cycles as well as a variety of other song literature. As an opera singer, Boesch has performed at such world-class venues as the Vienna Staatsoper and Volksoper, the Los Angeles Opera, and Oper Köln, where he appeared in the lead role in Berg's opera Wozzeck in 2011. Boesch has a long record of concert performances, appearing at the Amsterdam Concertgebouw, Wiener Konzerthaus, and Konzerthaus Berlin, among other major halls. Comfortable in early music, he has appeared in historically oriented performances led by Nikolaus Harnoncourt on tour in Japan. In addition to operatic releases, Boesch has appeared on more than 15 solo and ensemble albums, beginning in 2008 with an album in the Naxos label's Schubert: Romantic Poets series. He has recorded for the Onyx, Hyperion, and Linn labels, among others, focusing mostly on song repertory. In 2020, he took the bass role in Haydn's Die Schöpfung, Hob. 21/2, on a new release in the Alpha label's Haydn 2032 series of the composer's complete works.