BIOGRAPHY
The baritone Johannes Wollrab received his first musical training in the Dresden Kreuzchor. After an apprenticeship as an organ builder, he studied singing at the Hochschule für Musik "Carl Maria von Weber" Dresden. While still a student, he performed in the Rundfunkchor Berlin with the Deutsches Sinfonieorchester and with the Berlin Philharmonic under the direction of Kent Nagano and Sir Simon Rattle in Berlin, Salzburg and Tokyo. He then completed his training with postgraduate artistic studies with Ks. Andreas Schmidt. He gained special inspiration for his career as an opera singer in master classes with Ks. Evelyn Herlitzius and Ks. Olaf Bär. He was a prize-winner at the 22nd International Robert Stolz Singing Competition in Hamburg and was awarded the Orpheus Prize of the Bad Hersfeld Opera Festival.
Initially a freelance singer, Johannes Wollrab made guest appearances at various German-speaking theatres, including the Chemnitz Opera, the Semperoper Dresden, the Staatsoperette Dresden, the Plauen-Zwickau Theatre, the Staatstheater Cottbus, the Anhalt Theatre Dessau, the Koblenz Theatre and the Hagen Theatre. He also sang in concerts with the Sächsische Staatskapelle under the direction of Marc Minkowski and Christian Thielemann. From 2016 to 2022 he was a permanent ensemble member of the Magdeburg Theatre. Further guest appearances took him to the Winterthur Theatre, the Landestheater Detmold, the Kiel Theatre and the Staatstheater Darmstadt. Johannes Wollrab will join the ensemble of the Landesbühnen Sachsen at the beginning of the 2022/2023 season.
The baritone's wide-ranging repertoire includes over 40 roles from opera, operetta and musical. His most important roles include Papageno ("The Magic Flute"), Peter Besenbinder ("Hansel and Gretel"), Herr Fluth ("The Merry Wives of Windsor"), Figaro ("The Barber of Seville"), Gabriel von Eisenstein ("Die Fledermaus"), Aristide ("Ball at the Savoy"), Guglielmo ("Così fan tutte"), Zurga ("The Pearl Fishers"), Valentin ("Faust"), Edwin ("The Csárdás Princess"), Richardus ("Richard the Lionheart") as well as Pontius Pilate ("Jesus Christ Superstar") and Alfred P. Doolittle ("My Fair Lady"). His double debut as Mercutio and as Fencing Choreographer in Gounod's "Roméo et Juliette" directed by Karen Stone in the 2020/2021 season also received much recognition. At the Landesbühnen Sachsen, this season he can also be seen for the first time as Don Giovanni in Mozart's famous opera.
In addition to his many theatre engagements, Johannes Wollrab has always devoted himself intensively to song and concert singing. His repertoire includes oratorios and passions by Bach, Handel and Telemann as well as numerous choral symphonic works by Haydn, Mendelssohn-Bartholdy, Fauré and Orff and songs by Schubert, Schumann, Wolf and Busoni. Selected contemporary works round off his repertoire. In December 2021, his CD "Gib frei mein Herz ..." with songs from the "Italian Songbook" by Hugo Wolf and poems and ballads by Joachim Ringelnatz was released as a musical-literary audio book.
TIMELINE
2000 - 2005
Training as opera and concert singer at the Hochschule für Musik "Carl Maria von Weber" in Dresden
2002 - 2004
Master class/ freelancer with the Rundfunkchor Berlin, concerts in the Berlin Philharmonie and in the Konzerthaus am Gendarmenmarkt, concert tour to Japan, final concert of the Salzburg Festival 2004
2005 - 2007
Soloist examination in Dresden
2007
Schlossfestspiele Sondershausen (Die Fledermaus); Oper in der Stiftsruine Bad Hersfeld (L'Orfeo) - concert performances in Frankfurt a.M., Kassel, Prague; concert performance "Dido and Aeneas" in Dresden; Concerts: Johannespassion, Weihnachtsoratorium
2008
Mittelsächsisches Theater Freiberg-Döbeln (Die Fledermaus/ Carmina Burana); Staatsoperette Dresden (Der Mann, der Sherlock Holmes war); Oper in der Stiftsruine Bad Hersfeld (Hänsel & Gretel); Concerts: Matthäuspassion, Lukaspassion, 35. International Bach Festival Hessen-Thüringen, Krypta-Konzerte St.Michaelis Hamburg, Elias, Ein deutsches Requiem, Dettinger Te Deum, Messe Solenelle, Fauré Requiem, Weihnachtsoratorium
2009
Staatsoperette Dresden (Der Mann, der Sherlock Holmes war/ Der Vetter aus Dingsda); Oper in der Stiftsruine Bad Hersfeld (Die lustigen Weiber von Windsor); Concert performance "Die Fledermaus" at Hartberg Castle in Austria; Concerts: Johannespassion, Die Schöpfung, Szenen aus Goethe's Faust, Die erste Walpurgisnacht, The Messiah, Ein deutsches Requiem, Paulus, Weihnachtsoratorium
2010
Semperoper Dresden (Genoveva); Staatstheater Cottbus (Genoveva); Oper in der Stiftsruine Bad Hersfeld (Die Zauberflöte); Theater Plauen-Zwickau (Die Fledermaus); Anhaltisches Theater Dessau (Die Fledermaus); Staatsoperette Dresden (Der Mann, der Sherlock Homes war/ Der Vetter aus Dingsda/ Prinz Methusalem); Concerts: Johannespassion, Faust-Szenen, Die erste Walpurgisnacht, Die Schöpfung, Weihnachtsoratorium; Lieder eines fahrenden Gesellen, Italienisches Liederbuch.
2011
Staatstheater Cottbus (Genoveva); Oper in der Stiftsruine Bad Hersfeld (Il barbiere di Siviglia); Theater Plauen-Zwickau (Die Fledermaus); Staatsoperette Dresden (Der Vetter aus Dingsda/ Prinz Methusalem); Concerts: Matthäuspassion, Johannespassion, Rock-Oratorium Emmaus, Ein deutsches Requiem, Weihnachtsoratorium
2012
Theater Plauen-Zwickau (Die Fledermaus/ Ball im Savoy); Theater Bernburg (Die Fledermaus); Theater Eisleben (Ball im Savoy); Staatstheater Cottbus (Genoveva); Staatsoperette Dresden (Der Vetter aus Dingsda/ Prinz Methusalem); Concerts: Johannespassion, Messe in H-Moll, Die erste Walpurgisnacht, Mozart Requiem
2013
Theater Plauen-Zwickau (Ball im Savoy/ Il barbiere di Siviglia); Schlosstheater Fulda (Ball im Savoy); Staatsoperette Dresden (Prinz Methusalem); Theater Koblenz, (Die Fledermaus); Winterstein-Theater Annaberg (Die Fledermaus); Concerts: Johannespassion, Solomon, Das Liebesmahl der Apostel, Die Schöpfung, Ein deutsches Requiem, Weihnachtsoratorium
2014
Theater Plauen-Zwickau (Ball im Savoy); Landestheater Altenburg-Gera (Ball im Savoy); Theater Koblenz (Die Fledermaus); Winterstein-Theater Annaberg (Die Fledermaus); Oper in der Stiftsruine (Cosi fan tutte); Theater Hagen (Ball im Savoy); Staatstheater Cottbus (Peer Gynt); Concerts: Matthäuspassion, Sieben Worte Jesu, Elias, Ein deutsches Requiem, Verdi Requiem, Weihnachtsoratorium
2015
Theater Hagen (Ball im Savoy); Stadthalle Fürstenfeld (Les pêcheurs de perles); Theater Magdeburg (La vie parisienne); Concerts: Matthäuspassion, Die Schöpfung, Weihnachtsoratorium, Oratorio de Noël
2016
Theater Magdeburg (La vie parisienne/ Faust/ Die Zauberflöte); Oper Chemnitz (Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg); Theater Winterthur (La vie parisienne); Concerts: Johannespassion, O Haupt voll Blut und Wunden, Sieben Worte Jesu am Kreuz, The Messiah, Stabat Mater
2017
Theater Magdeburg (Faust/ Die Zauberflöte/ Die Csadasfürstin/ La finta giardiniera/ Carmen/ Rusalka); Concerts: The Apostles, Weihnachtsoratorium; Recital: Gib frei mein Herz
2018
Theater Magdeburg (Die Zauberflöte/ Die Csardasfürstin/ Rusalka/ Richard the Lionheart/ Eine Nacht in Venedig/ Gräfin Mariza/ La boheme/ Jesus Christ Superstar); Concerts: Dvořák-Stabat-Mater, Emmaus, In Terra Pax, Paulus, Jommelli Requiem; Recital: Winterreise
2019
Theater Magdeburg (Eine Nacht in Venedig/ Gräfin Mariza/ La boheme/ Die Zauberflöte/ Xerxes/ Anatevka/ Kátja Kabanová/ 3 Musketiere/ Hänsel & Gretel/ Beethoven 9th Symphony); Landestheater Detmold (Faust); Concerts: Das Sühnopfer des neuen Bundes, Paulus; Recital: Gib frei mein Herz
2020
Theater Magdeburg (Rise and Fall of the City of Mahagonny/ Beethoven 9/ Roméo et Juliette/ Der Zigeunerbaron/ Guys and Dolls); debut as fight choreographer in Roméo et Juliette; Recital: Winterreise
2021
Theater Magdeburg (Ritter Odilo/ Der Zigeunerbaron/ Guys and Dolls/ Die verkaufte Braut/ My Fair Lady); CD recordings: Gib frei mein Herz
2022
Theater Magdeburg (New Year's Concerts/ Der Zigeunerbaron/ Beethoven 9/ Die verkaufte Braut/ Grete Minde/ My Fair Lady/ Chamber Concert/ Die Zauberflöte); Theater Kiel (Anatevka); Staatstheater Darmstadt (Ball im Savoy); Landesbühnen Sachsen (Hänsel&Gretel/ Carmina Burana/ Die lustigen Nibelungen/ Rigoletto/ Werther/ Beethoven 9); Concerts: Carl Loewe Quintett, 26th Magdeburg Telemann Festival (Ensemble Solomon's Knot), CD recordings: Telemann Cantatas (Ensemble Solomon's Knot/ Les Passions de l'Âme), Théâtre Populaire Romand La Chaux-de-Fonds (Ensemble Solomon's Knot/ Les Passions de l’Âme), Brandenburgische Sommerkonzerte (Gib frei mein Herz), Oratorio concerts: Paulus, Weihnachtsoratorium
2023
Landesbühnen Sachsen (Werther/ Don Giovanni/ Die Zirkusprinzessin/ Der Freischütz/ Rigoletto); Oratorio concerts: The Messiah, Johannespassion