8 August 2026, 8.00 p.m.
SONG RECITAL with ROBERT HOLL, bass & ALEXANDER GRASSAUER, bass-baritone
Piano: Stephan Matthias Lademann, mdw Vienna
ROBERT HOLL, Bass was born in Rotterdam and won First Prize at the International Singing Competition in ’s-Hertogenbosch in 1971, subsequently continuing his studies with Hans Hotter in Munich. One year later, he won First Prize at the ARD Competition there. From 1973 to 1975, Robert Holl was a member of the Bavarian State Opera in Munich. He then temporarily reduced his operatic activities in favour of concert and song performance. He established an outstanding reputation as a recital and concert singer, performing with the most renowned conductors such as Eugen Jochum, Nikolaus Harnoncourt, Karl Richter, Herbert von Karajan, Valery Gergiev, Claudio Abbado, Bernard Haitink, Carlo Maria Giulini and Wolfgang Sawallisch throughout Europe, Russia, the USA and Japan.
From the late 1980s onwards, he increasingly returned to operatic productions. He appeared as a guest at the Vienna State Opera, La Monnaie in Brussels, the Zurich Opera House, the Staatsoper Unter den Linden Berlin, the Deutsche Oper Berlin and Cologne Opera – most recently above all in major Wagner roles. His roles at the Vienna State Opera since 2002 have included Landgrave Hermann, King Marke (Tristan und Isolde under Christian Thielemann, Franz Welser-Möst and Peter Schneider), Gurnemanz (Parsifal under Donald Runnicles) and Pimen (Boris Godunov under Daniele Gatti).
Following his great success as Hans Sachs in Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg in the Bayreuth Festival productions from 1996 to 2002 under conductors such as Daniel Barenboim and Christian Thielemann, Robert Holl sang from 2004 to 2007 under the direction of Pierre Boulez. In 2008, 2009 and 2011 he was heard as King Marke at the Bayreuth Festival.
Robert Holl is regarded as one of the great song interpreters of our time. His particular affinity lies with the German and Russian song repertoire, and he feels especially closely connected to the works of Franz Schubert. Song recitals have taken him to the Schubertiade in Hohenems and Schwarzenberg, to the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam, and on many occasions to Wigmore Hall. His long-standing song accompanists include Oleg Maisenberg, Roger Vignoles, Graham Johnson, Rudolf Jansen, David Lutz and András Schiff.
By invitation, he has participated several times in the events of the “Moscow Winter”. He made his debut at the concerts of the Gesellschaft der Musikfreunde in Vienna in 1974 with Mahler’s Kindertotenlieder, and in 1997 he was made an honorary member of the Society.
As artistic director of festivals and Schubertiades in the Netherlands and Austria, he has realised distinctive programme concepts and provided his students with a shared platform. Since 2008, he has served as artistic director of the successful Schubertiade Dürnstein.
In 2008, Robert Holl was appointed Full Professor of Song and Oratorio at the University of Music and Performing Arts Vienna. He is now emeritus and focuses on masterclasses in Austria and abroad.
In October 1990, Robert Holl was awarded the title of Kammersänger in Austria, as well as the Austrian Cross of Honour for Science and Art, First Class. In his home country, he has been a Knight of the Order of the Netherlands Lion since 2007. In October 2022, Robert Holl received the Edison Award for his lifetime achievement.
ALEXANDER GRASSAUER, Bass-baritone
The young bass-baritone received his first vocal training with Sigrid Rennert in Bruck an der Mur. He subsequently studied singing with Prof. Karlheinz Hanser and in the song class of Prof. Florian Boesch at the University of Music and Performing Arts Vienna. Further artistic impulses were provided by Ramon Vargas, Robert Holl and Elīna Garanča.
On the opera stage, he has sung Masetto in Don Giovanni at the Stadttheater Baden near Vienna, the Marchese in La Traviata at the Klosterneuburg Festival, Figaro in Le nozze di Figaro at the Schönbrunn Palace Theatre, the Speaker in Mozart’s Die Zauberflöte on a tour of the Teatro alla Scala in Shanghai, and Frank in Die Fledermaus at the Deutsche Oper am Rhein in Düsseldorf.
Until the 2023/24 season, he was a permanent ensemble member at the Staatstheater am Gärtnerplatz in Munich, where his roles included the Speaker in Die Zauberflöte, Masetto and Leporello in Don Giovanni, Don Basilio in Il barbiere di Siviglia, Alidoro in La Cenerentola, Monterone in Rigoletto, Count Walter in Luisa Miller and Frank in Die Fledermaus.
His concert activity includes national and international appearances such as numerous song recitals, Beethoven’s Symphony No. 9 in Bangkok, Lisbon and at the Großes Festspielhaus in Salzburg, Bach’s St John Passion and Handel’s Messiah at the Vienna Konzerthaus, Mozart’s Requiem in Germany, Mendelssohn’s St Paul in the Golden Hall of the Vienna Musikverein, as well as further engagements in countries such as Italy, Hungary and Poland. In the 2024/25 season, Alexander Grassauer is a “Young Talent” of the Vienna Konzerthaus, where he will appear in various concert formats. He returns as a guest to the Gärtnerplatz Theatre in Munich to sing, among other roles, Dulcamara in Donizetti’s L’elisir d’amore. He will conclude the season with his debut at the Bayreuth Festival as Hermann Ortel in a new production of Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg under the direction of Daniele Gatti.
Alexander Grassauer is the prizewinner of several international singing competitions. He won First Prize at the Hariclea Darclée Singing Competition in Romania in 2017 and Second Prize at the International Hugo Wolf Song Competition in Stuttgart in 2022. In addition, he received the prize for Best Emerging Talent at the 4th International Otto Edelmann Competition in Vienna and First Prize at the Zukunftsstimmen initiative of KS Elīna Garanča.
