Holger Falk
Baritone
“Falk sings with a tremendous tonal range that refuses to allow the audience to remain oblivious to the music involved: it is as though the lyrics are biting deeper into the ear with each syllable, each note. (…) Falk’s capacity for creativity is sensational”, as die ZEIT and the Washington Post reported: “Falk is able to characterize every word so vividly that, if he were singing in Vedic Sanskrit, you’d get the message“. Flexibility, vibrancy and immediacy of expression make Holger Falk an internationally sought-after interpreter. With his multiple opera appearances as well as being an avid concert and lieder singer, he is a guest at major houses throughout Europe and the USA, working with renowned conductors and directors.
Holger Falk has a great passion for contemporary music theatre, and several new scores were composed especially for him: he sang the world premiéres of The Golden Dragon by Peter Eötvös at the Oper Frankfurt and at the Bregenz Festival along with Ein Brief by Manfred Trojahn at the Oper Bonn and Septembersonate by Manfred Trojahn at the Deutsche Oper am Rhein Düsseldorf. He has been nominated three times as singer of the year by Opernwelt magazine for his outstanding interpretations of Kassandra in Iannis Xenaki’s Oresteia (2017), Johannes in Georg Friedrich Haas‘ Morgen und Abend (2017) and of Lord Byron in Michael Wertmüller‘s world première DIODATI. UNENDLICH (2019). He has also performed works by composers including Wolfgang Rihm, Kaija Saariaho, Beat Furrer, Georges Aperghis, Bernhard Lang, Miroslav Srnka, Vladimir Tarnopolski and Steffen Schleiermacher and has appeared at the Bayerische Staatsoper in Munich, the Staatsoper Hamburg, the Oper Köln, the Theater an der Wien, the Theater Basel, the Théâtre de la Monnaie Brussels, the Teatro Real Madrid, the Théâtre des Champs-Élysées Paris and the National Opera Warsaw.
Holger Falk will kick off the new season 2024/25 performing the programme Il Gondoliere Veneziano at the Schleswig-Holstein Music Festival, Peter Maxwell Davies' Eight Songs for a Mad King in Espoo (Finland) as well as a Schönberg-Ives-recital on the opening-weekend of the Musikfest Berlin 2024 at the Philharmonie Berlin. Subsequently, he will sing the revival of Septembersonate (Manfred Trojahn) at the Deutsche Oper am Rhein Düsseldorf and of Amopera with the Klangforum Wien at the Wiener Konzerthaus. Together with the WDR Symphony Orchestra he will premiére the new work mein Fleisch by Gordon Kampe at the Kölner Philharmonie and Philharmonie Essen this autumn. Further concerts and recitals are scheduled at the Oxford International Song Festival, at Musik Plus in Hall (Austria) as well as at the Liszt Academy of Music in Budapest.
Holger Falk’s range of CD productions, including a four-part series of songs by Hanns Eislers (MDG), the complete recordings of the Mélodies et Chansons by Erik Satie and all 115 mélodies by Francis Poulenc (MDG) and Il Gondoliere Veneziano – a musical voyage through Venice (Prospero), received prestigious awards: German Record Critics’ Award 2017, CD of the Month (Opernwelt), Gramophone Editor‘s Choice Award, ECHO Klassik Award 2016 and Opus Klassik 2019 as Singer of the Year and best solo-recording vocal: Lied 2019. In 2022, the CD Keintate I, II (Friedrich Cerha) has been released (Kairos) together with the attensam quartett.
Holger Falk began singing as a boy with the famous Regensburg Cathedral Boys’ Choir followed by vocal studies at the Wurzburg Conservatory, in Milan with Sigune von Osten, Franco Corelli and with Neil Semer, among others. Holger Falk is professor of Lied interpretation and performances practice for contemporary music at the renowned University of Music and Performing Arts Graz.
Holger Falk: Summer festival concerts
In August the baritone Holger Falk will demonstrate the wide spectrum of his artistry at the Schleswig-Holstein Music Festival, the Musikfest Berlin as well as at the festival Urkuyö ja Aaria in Espoo:
He will kick-off this concert series with performances of the programme Gondoliere Veneziano on 13 August 2024 at the Atlantic Hotel Travemünde Lübeck and on 14 August 2024 in the Nikolaikirche Plön at the Schleswig-Holstein Musik Festival’s invitation. Musical partners will be the ensemble nuovo aspetto and the soundscapes artist Eva Pöpplein (Merzouga).
On 25 August 2024 a chamber recital will follow at the Philharmonie Berlin celebrating the opening of the Musikfest Berlin and the 150th anniversaries of Arnold Schönberg and Charles Ives. Lieder/songs and works by both composers will be performed by Holger Falk, Tora Augestad (mezzo-soprano), Michael Rotschopf (conférencier), Stefan Litwin (piano, concept) and the Eliot Quartett and will be intertwined with writings, letters and diaries excerpts from the composers.
On 29 August 2024 Holger Falk will then sing one of his showpieces Eight Songs for a Mad King by Peter Maxwell Davies at the Espoo Cathedral at the Urkuyö ja Aaria festivaali’s invitation. The Eight Songs will be presented in the semi-staged concert version THE KING IS DEAD! in the direction of Aleksi Barrière and will be combined with Olivier Messiaen’s Quatuor pour la fin du temps. The musicians are Jukka Untamala (direction, violine), Xavi Castelló (percussion), Markus Hohti (cello), Kirill Kozlovski (piano), Olli Leppäniemi (clarinet) and Jenny Villanen (flute).
Holger Falk: Eisler‘s „Ernste Gesänge“
On 8 June 2024 the baritone Holger Falk will perform with the Munich Chamber Orchestra in the context of Nachtmusik – A composer’s portrait of Hanns Eisler at the Pinakothek der Moderne in Munich. In the course of this evening, he will sing Eisler‘s Ernste Gesänge for baritone and strings as well es his Five Hollywood-Elegies after lyrics by Bertold Brecht taken from the ›Hollywooder Liederbuch‹ (arrangement for chamber ensemble: Steffen Schleiermacher). Bas Wiegers will conduct the Munich Chamber Orchestra. Holger Falk has released four outstanding CD-recordings presenting Hanns Eisler’s Lieder together with pianist Steffen Schleiermacher; he is a very passionate interpreter of Eisler’s Lied oeuvre.
The critics were enthusiastic:
Falk’s Eisler discs (…) are an absolute revelation, with an incredible immediacy, authority, verbal clarity and breadth of stylistic nuance (…).
theartsdesk.com, Sebastian Scotney, December 2023
Holger Falk presents new CD-recording
The baritone Holger Falk and the pianist Steffen Schleiermacher just released their latest recording Germaine Tailleferre & Darius Milhaud: "Mélodies et Chansons" Vol. 2 (published at MDG) continuing their Lied recording series which focuses on the Groupe des six composers.
The press writes enthusiastically about this release:
It’s impressive how Holger Falk is capable to instantly switch the mood and the timbre, even in very short songs.
KULTUR-EXTRA, Thomas Rothschild
The duo already presented 5 CD recordings of songs of the composers Darius Milhaud, Arthur Honegger and Francis Poulenc to great acclaim. The Lied-Oeuvre of Louis Dureys and Georges Aurics will be presented in further recordings that will complete this Lied-series.
Holger Falk received prestigious awards für his recent Lied-recordings: German Record Critics’ Award 2017, CD of the Month (Opernwelt), Gramophone Editor‘s Choice Award, ECHO Klassik Award 2016 and Opus Klassik 2019 as Singer of the Year and best solo-recording vocal: Lied 2019.
Opera / Music theatre:
Alban Berg Wozzeck (Wozzeck)
Benjamin Britten Billy Budd (Billy Budd)
Peter Maxwell Davies Eight songs for a mad king (King Georg)
Claude Debussy Pelléas et Mélisande (Pelléas)
Gaetano Donizetti Il campanello di notte (Enrico)
Peter Eötvös Der Goldene Drache (Man, Asian, WP), Paradise Reloaded – Lillith (Lucifer)
Hans Gefors Skuggspel (scholar)
Detlev Glanert The Three Riddles (King Zephalus, fly)
Heiner Goebbels Landscape with distant relatives (baritone)
Christoph Graupner Dido (Juba)
Georg Friedrich Haas Morgen und Abend (Johannes), Thomas (Thomas)
Johann Adolf Hasse Leucippo (Nunte)
Hans Werner Henze Boulevard Solitude (Lescaut), El Cimarrón (Cimarrón), Der Prinz von Homburg (Prince), Das Floß der Medusa (Jean-Charles)
Emmerich Kálmán Die Csárdásfürstin (Edwin)
Franz Lehár Die Lustige Witwe (Danilo)
Benoît Mernier Frühlings Erwachen (Moritz Stiefel, WP)
Claudio Monteverdi Combattimento di Tancredi e Clorinda (Testo), L’Orfeo (Orfeo), L’incoronazione di Poppea (Ottone), Il Ritorno d´Ulisse in patria (Ulisse)
W. A. Mozart The Magic Flute (Papageno)
Jan Müller-Wieland Die Irre oder nächtlicher Fischfang (Der Mann, WP)
Fabián Panisello L’officina della resurrezione (baritone)
Giacomo Puccini Madama Butterfly (Sharpless)
Francis Poulenc Les mamelles de Tirésias (Le Mari)
Wolfgang Rihm Die Eroberung von Mexico (Cortéz), Dionysos (N./Nietzsche/Dionysos), Jakob Lenz (Jakob Lenz)
Gioacchino Rossini Il barbiere di Siviglia (Figaro)
Kaja Saariaho L’amour de loin (Jaufré Rudel WP)
Steffen Schleiermacher Kokain (Tobias 2, WP)
Miroslav Srnka Make no Noise (Joseph, WP)
Johann Strauß Die Fledermaus (Gabriel von Eisenstein)
Vladimir Tarnopolski Beyond the Shadow (prisoner, WP)
Manfred Trojahn Enrico (Enrico), Ein Brief (Lord Chandos, WP), Septembersonate (Brydon, WP)
Viktor Ullmann The Emperor of Atlantis (Emperor)
Michael Wertmüller Weine nicht, singe! (Aki, WP), Diodati.Unendlich (Lord Byron, WP)
Iannis Xenakis Oresteia (Kassandra, Athena)
Bernd Alois Zimmermann Die Soldaten (Stolzius)
8 June 2024, 22:00, Pinakothek der Moderne, Rotunde, Munich
Programme: Nachtmusik - Composer's portrait Hanns Eisler:
Ernste Gesänge for baritone and strings, Five Hollywood-Elegies after lyrics by Bertold Brecht from the ›Hollywooder Liederbuch‹ (arrangement for chamber ensemble: Steffen Schleiermacher) i.a.
Cast: Münchener Kammerorchester, Bas Wiegers (conductor), Holger Falk (baritone)
12 July 2024, Ottawa chamber music festival, Canada
Programme: Voyage a Paris - Les Mélodies de la "groupe des six"
Cast: Holger Falk (baritone), Steffen Schleiermacher (piano)
14 July 2024, Ottawa chamber music festival, Canada
Programme: Hanns Eisler Hollywooder Liederbuch
Cast: Holger Falk (baritone), Steffen Schleiermacher (piano)
13 August 2024, 19:30, Atlantic Hotel Travemünde, Lübeck
14 August 2024, 19:30, Nikolaikirche, Plön
Schleswig-Holstein Music Festival
Programme: Il Gondoliere Veneziano
Cast: ensemble nuovo aspetto, Holger Falk (baritone), Eva Pöpplein (soundscapes)
25 August 2024, 18:00, Musikfest Berlin, Kammermusiksaal, Philharmonie Berlin
Programme: Soirèe of modernity - with songs, instrumentals, parts from work cycles, texts, letters and diaries by Arnold Schönberg and Charles Ives
Cast: Eliot Quartett, Tora Augestad (mezzo-soprano), Peyee Chen (soprano), Holger Falk (baritone), Stefan Litwin (piano), Michael Rotschopf (reciter and conference master)
29 August 2024, 21:00, Espoo Cathedral, Urkuyö ja Aaria festivaali, Finland
Programme: THE KING IS DEAD! - Peter Maxwell Davies' Eight Songs for a Mad King combined with Olivier Messiaen's Quartet for the End of Time
Cast: Aleksi Barrière (stage director), Jukka Untamala (conductor, violin), Xavi Castelló (drum set), Holger Falk (baritone), Markus Hohti (cello), Kirill Kozlovski (piano), Olli Leppäniemi (clarinet), Jenny Villanen (flute)
4/25 October 2024, 19:30
15 November 2024, 19:30
Opernhaus Düsseldorf
Programme: Manfred Trojahn Septembersonate
Cast: Düsseldorfer Symphoniker, Christoph Stöcker (conductor), Johannes Erath (stage director), Heike Scheele (set, costumes), Holger Falk (Osbert Brydon), Juliane Banse (Ellice Staverton), Roman Hoza (Osbert II), Susan Maclean (Mrs. Muldoon), Angelika Richter (Mutter)
14 October 2024, 13:00, Oxford International Song Festival, Holywell Music Room, Oxford
Programme: Hanns Eisler Hollywood Songbook
Cast: Holger Falk (baritone), Julius Drake (piano)
8 November 2024, 20:00, Philharmonie Essen - NOW! Festival
9 November 2024, 20:00, Kölner Philharmonie
Musik der Zeit - Musik und Verlangen
Programme: Nicolaus A. Huber ...der arabischen 4, Johannes Maria Staud Whereas the reality trembles (german premiere), Gordon Kampe mein Fleisch (world premiere)
Cast: WDR Sinfonieorchester, Brad Lubman (conductor), Anna-Lena Elbert (soprano), Holger Falk (baritone), Christoph Sietzen (drums)
9 February 2025, 16:00, Music Before 1800, Corpus Christi Church, New York City
Programme: Il Gondoliere Veneziano
Cast: nuovo aspetto, Holger Falk (baritone), Merzouga (sound scapes)
Il Gondoliere Veneziano – Gondolier songs from the 18th century in the Venetian soundscape
In Il Gondoliere Veneziano, the music and soundscape of Venice come together in an extraordinary way. As in the past, everyday sounds inspire the songs of the gondolier for a new musical interpretation. At the same time, the soundscape is influenced by the music, with everyday sounds turning into musical sounds and tones in reference to the gondolier’s music in a kind of sound metamorphosis. The programme is based around the “Canzoni da Battello”, performed by baritone Holger Falk, together with the baroque ensemble “Nuovo Aspetto”, led by Michael Dücker. The Canzoni da Battello are interspersed by the contrasting electro-acoustic Venice pieces by the duo Merzouga, which use baroque fragments as motifs, transposing melodic elements into the contemporary sound language, while preserving the integrity of the baroque music. The combination of these two approaches creates a Venice soundtrack as an overall, through-composed work. Church bells, voices, the sound of Venetian squares, the acoustic intimacy of winding alleyways, water, waves and beating paddles surround the gondolier’s singing.
Cast:
Holger Falk (baritone)
soundscape – duo „Merzouga“: Janko Hanushevsky & Eva Pöpplein (soundscapes and live electronic)
Ensemble „Nuovo Aspetto“: Michael Dücker (lute), Johanna Seitz (harp), Elisabeth Seitz (salterio), Hartmut Becker (cello), Evgeny Sviridov (violine), Daniel Lanthier (oboe), Leonard Schelb, (baroque flute), Adrián van der Spoel (baroque guitar), Andreas Nowak (percussion)
Premiere:
17 April 2019, Elbphilharmonie Hamburg, Kleiner Saal – Opening of the Easter Festival
Equally popular as a singer of opera and Lieder, Holger Falk finds exactly the right tone for this music: with a light sound that unites simplicity and sweetness in his almost tenor-like timbre. (…) Holger Falk changes colour in harmony with the musical surroundings like a vocal chameleon.
Hamburger Abendblatt, Marcus Stäbler, 20th April 2019
Recording & broadcast of the programme by WDR (season 2018/19).
Lieder by Hanns Eisler
In a four-part CD edition, Holger Falk and Steffen Schleiermacher present the lied œuvre by Hanns Eisler. The CD Hanns Eisler Lieder Vol. 1 already received the German Record Critics’ Award 2017 and has been nominated for the Editor’s Choice Award of the Gramophone Magazine. The second CD of the series has been released in autumn 2017 to great acclaim. The repertoire can also be experienced on stage at a lieder recital.
The duo, which has been honoured with the ECHO-Klassik 2016 for its Erik Satie recording, shows a new perspective on Schoenberg’s pupil, who had long been reduced on his communistic work and pushed in a far left corner.
Both artists are convincing in their great diversity of expression, Falk’s precise understanding of lyric, and an impressive interpretation of the extremely versatile lieder by Eisler. The first CD presents lieder from a period between 1929 and 1937, which lyrics were mainly written by Bertolt Brecht and are first and foremost workers’ and battle songs. The following three recordings dedicate themselves to a particular period of time in Hanns Eisler’s creative work progress and range from workers and battle songs, chansons and art songs to 12-tone children’s songs.
Cast:
Holger Falk (baritone)
Steffen Schleiermacher (piano)
The main achievement here is that more of Tailleferre’s work is being given an airing. Hats off to Falk and Schleiermacher (…) for making it happen. (…)
Falk’s Eisler discs (…) are an absolute revelation, with an incredible immediacy, authority, verbal clarity and breadth of stylistic nuance (…)
theartsdesk.com, Sebastian Scotney, 23. December 2023
Holger Falk has a beautifully mellifluous baritone, and in the more lyrical numbers it is wonderfully easy to imagine him singing to you in his gondola on a warm Venetian night (and getting an extra tip for it of course, at the end of the evening). But the songs aren’t all simply seduction numbers, and they vary greatly in character with Falk showing himself equally adept at the tongue twisting and the highly characterful. It is this variety which makes the disc such a delight, the mixture of the hauntingly lyrical, the plangent, the lively characterful and the down-right toe-tapping.
Planet Hugill, Robert Hugill, 2 July 2020
This is both technically dazzling and musically involving: a collection of canzoni da battello (…) from 17th century Venice, wonderfully sung by baritone Holger Falk and deliciously accompanied by period instrument combo Nuovo Aspetto.
Falk is in gorgeous voice, singing with a relaxed informality that’s irresistible, and the production values serve him so well.
theartsdesk.com, Graham Rickson, 20 June 2020
Holger Falk’s high baritone and sensitive diction made each word of Hofmannstahl’s meditation clear and meaningful (…).
Opera Magazin, Agustín Blanco-Bazán, April 2020
Holger Falk shows the full range of colour in his voice as he interprets these songs, he has been impressive throughout the previous three discs, showing great subtlety as well as intensity in his reading and he is truly excellent here.
Music Web International, Stuart Sillitoe, January 2020
A first among equals and tour de force: Holger Falk as Lord Byron.
Die Zeit, Mirko Weber, 27 February 2019
With vocal and acting exaltation, he brings to life the figure of the torn, pleasure and sex-addicted, idealistic and ultimately lonely romantic hero.
Neue Zürcher Zeitung, Thomas Schacher, 23 February 2019
Falk displayed a masterful ability to create a distinct mood, atmosphere, and personality for each, whether dreamy and awe-filled in “Der Wanderer an den Mond,” or youthful and effusive in “Bei dir allein”.
Opera News, Steven Jude Tietjen, January 2019
Baritone Holger Falk makes outstanding Washington debut
Those fortunate enough to have been at the Phillips Collection Sunday afternoon heard what I suspect may be the outstanding song recital of the season. Their artfully conceived German and French program, Schubert and Hanns Eisler on the first half, Francis Poulenc and Erik Satie on the second, combined subtlety and power in a breathtaking display of ensemble virtuosity in captivating music. Falk has an extraordinarily flexible baritone, with a warm, confiding lower and midrange that, when called for, can go full throttle in a nanosecond. (…) But more important than his beautiful voice and perfect diction, Falk is able to characterize every word so vividly that, if he were singing in Vedic Sanskrit, you’d get the message. (…) Falk brings a light touch to Schubert, so that when things grow serious, the impact grips the heart. (…) afternoon of unforgettable music making.
The Washington Post, Patrick Rucker, 29 October 2018
The baritone’s voice is light in colour with an inherently gentle quality to it, but capable of impressive intensity in the upper range.
Gramophone, Hugo Shirley, September 2018
The testing title role was performed by that protean contemporary music specialist, Holger Falk (…), an inventive, responsive and compelling actor, he gave a remarkable demonstration of technique and musicality, with much lovely soft singing along the way.
Opera Magazine, May 2018
Audio recordings:
Germaine Tailleferre & Darius Milhaud: Songs "Mélodies et Chansons" Vol. 2
MDG (2023)
Holger Falk, baritone
Steffen Schleiermacher
Darius Milhaud: Songs "Melodies et Chansons" Vol.1
MDG (2022)
Holger Falk, baritone
Steffen Schleiermacher
FRIEDRICH CERHA: Keintate I,II (parts)
KAIROS (2022)
Holger Falk, baritone
attensam quartet
Wojciech Błażejczyk:
General Theory of Relativity
KAIROS (2021)
Holger Falk, baritone
Klangforum Vienna
Johannes Kalitzke
Arthur Honegger
Mélodies & Chansons
MDG (2021)
Holger Falk, baritone
Steffen Schleiermacher, piano
The Venetian Gondolier -
A musical voyage through Venice
Prospero (2020)
Holger Falk, Bariton
New Appearance
Merzouga
Hanns Eisler
Lieder Vol. 4
Songs 1917-1929
MDG (2019)
Holger Falk, baritone
Steffen Schleiermacher, piano
Hanns Eisler
Lieder Vol. 3
Songs 1938-1948
MDG (2018)
Holger Falk, baritone
Steffen Schleiermacher, piano
Hanns Eisler
Lieder Vol. 2
Songs 1948-1962
MDG (2017)
Holger Falk, baritone
Steffen Schleiermacher, piano
Hanns Eisler
Lieder Vol. 1
Songs and Ballads 1929-1937
MDG (2017)
Holger Falk, baritone
Steffen Schleiermacher, piano
Peter Eötvös
Paradise reloaded
BMC-Records (2016)
Hungarian Radio Symphony Orchestra, Gregory Vajda, Dirigent
Holger Falk, Lucifer
Hans-Jürgen von der Wense
Piano works, songs, chamber music
ES DUR (2016)
Radio Symphony Orchestra Berlin
Steffen Schleiermacher, piano
Holger Falk, baritone, et al.
Erik Satie
Intégrale des Mélodies et Chansons
MDG (2015)
Holger Falk, baritone
Steffen Schleiermacher, piano
Francis Poulenc: "Mélodies sur des poèmes des poètes divers" Vol. 3
MDG (2013)
Holger Falk, Baritone
Alessandro Zuppardo
Francis Poulenc: "Mélodies sur des poèmes de Paul Éluard" Vol. 2
MDG + Deutschlandradio Kultur (2013)
Holger Falk, Bariton
Alessandro Zuppardo
Francis Poulenc: "Mélodies sur des poèmes de Guillaume Apollinaire"
MDG (2010)
Holger Falk, Baritone
Alessandro Zuppardo
Photos:
To download a photo, please click on the picture.
Photo: Wonge Bergmann
Photo: Kaupo Kikkas
Photo: Kaupo Kikkas
Photo: Kaupo Kikkas
Photo: Kaupo Kikkas
Photo: Kaupo Kikkas
Website:
Holger Falk Website
Schimmer PR:
Schimmer PR Website