Swiss baritone Manuel Walser studied voice under Thomas Quasthoff at the Hanns Eisler School of Music in Berlin and finished his studies in July 2015 with distinction. In addition to Thomas Quasthoff, some of his most important mentors and teachers are Brigitte Fassbaender, Frédéric Gindraux, and Wolfram Rieger. At the international song competition ‘Das Lied’ in Berlin, he received both 1st Place and the Audience Award in 2013. He is also a laureate of the Stella Maris International Vocal Competition and received the Armin Weltner Foundation Award in 2014.
Manuel Walser was a permanent member of the Vienna State Opera ensemble for five seasons until 2019, performing many important opera roles under conductors such as Cornelius Meister and Peter Schneider, Marco Armiliato, Evelino Pidò and Tomáš Netopil. At the Salzburg Festival, he made his debut in 2014 as Brutamonte under Ingo Metzmacher in Schubert's opera Fierrabras. In 2018, he debuted at the Berlin State Opera Unter den Linden as Harlequin in Strauss' Ariadne on Naxos.
Manuel Walser has been a regular guest on the concert stage for a long time. He performs regularly at the J. S. Bach Foundation, where he sang numerous cantatas, some of which have also been recorded. Highlights of the past seasons include his interpretation of Christ in Bach's St Matthew Passion at the Verbier Festival under the baton of Thomas Quasthoff as well as with the Concertgebouw Orkest in Amsterdam under Ton Koopman.
Manuel Walser is passionately dedicated to the art of Lied. He can be heard regularly in recitals with Anano Gokieli, Alexander Fleischer, Malcolm Martineau, Akemi Murakami, Elisabeth Plank, Wolfram Rieger, Jonathan Ware and Justus Zeyen. He has given recitals in Barcelona, at the Schubert Festival in Gastein, the Easter Festival in Bayreuth, the Philharmonie in Paris, London's Wigmore Hall and the Schubertíada Vilabertran. He sang at the Lucerne Festival, the Berlin Philharmonic, the Festival Oxford Lieder, the Konzerthaus Berlin, the Salzburg Festival, the Wiener Musikverein, in Munich, Zurich and at the Schubertiaden Hohenems and Schwarzenberg. Other highlights include the world premiere of the orchestrated version of Schubert's Winterreise by Massimiliano Matesic with the PreCollege Orchestra Zurich, as well as Brahms' Schöne Magelone with Thomas Quasthoff as orator in Hameln.
