Daniel Johannsen

"When it comes to turning (German-language) texts into music, Daniel Johannsen currently marks the pinnacle of sensual conveyance of meaning." This is how the Leipziger Volkszeitung hymnally reviewed the CD 360° Hugo Wolf, which the Viennese-born tenor presented together with the pianist Andreas Fröschl. After training as a church musician, the tenor studied voice with Margit Klaushofer and Robert Holl in Vienna; he was a master student of Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau, Christa Ludwig and Nicolai Gedda and has won prizes at the Bach-, Schumann-, Mozart-, Hilde Zadek and Wigmore Hall competitions.

As one of the most sought-after evangelists and Bach interpreters, Daniel Johannsen performs in the major music centres of Europe, North America, Japan and the Middle East, including: Konzerthaus and Musikverein Vienna, Roy Thomson Hall Toronto, Maison Symphonique de Montréal, Boston Symphony Hall, Tokyo International Forum, Gewandhaus Leipzig, Munich Philharmonie, Elbphilharmonie Hamburg, Berlin Philharmonie, London Wigmore Hall, Palau de la música catalana Barcelona, Auditorio Nacional de la Música Madrid, Bronfman Auditorium Tel Aviv, BOZAR Brussels, Théâtre des Champs-Élisées Paris. He has also performed at festivals such as the Salzburg Festival, Styriarte Graz, Israel Festival, Bachfest Leipzig, International Bach Festival Schaffhausen, Beethovenfest Bonn, Musikfest Bremen, La Folle Journée au Japon, Innsbruck Festival of Early Music, RheinVokal, Bachwoche Ansbach, Herrenchiemsee Festival, Rheingau Music Festival, Menuhin Festival Gstaad and George Enescu Festival Bucharest, to name but a few...

Er musizierte unter der Leitung von renommierten Dirigenten wie etwa Sir Neville Marriner, Nikolaus Harnoncourt, Philippe Herreweghe, René Jacobs, Trevor Pinnock, Jordi Savall, Bertrand de Billy, Michel Corboz, Andrew Parrott, Omer Meir Wellber, Georges Prêtre, Dennis Russell Davies, Thomas Hengelbrock, Reinhard Goebel und Thomas Dausgaard; zudem mit Israel Philharmonic, der Staatskapelle Dresden oder den Wiener Philharmonikern. Eine besonders innige künstlerische Freundschaft verband ihn mit dem 2018 verstorbenen Enoch zu Guttenberg; Auftritte u. a. in der New Yorker Carnegie Hall und im Großen Saal des Moskauer Tschaikowsky-Konservatoriums geben davon Zeugnis. Daniel Johannsen ist Stammgast der Bachstiftung St. Gallen und der Nederlandse Bachvereniging („All of Bach“). Auch verbindet ihn eine rege Zusammenarbeit mit Hansjörg Albrecht, Michael Hofstetter und Matthias Grünert.

On the opera stage, the lyric tenor, whose engagements have taken him to Munich's Gärtnerplatz, the Leipzig Opera, the Vienna Volksoper and the Bonn Theatre, can be heard in Mozart roles, in works of the Baroque, the 20th century and the modern era, but also in several operetta roles. Lieder recitals with the whole range of the German repertoire (but also with English and French compositions) form a focal point of the singer's activities, who collaborates with pianists such as Jörg Demus, Graham Johnson and Kristian Bezuidenhout. Around 60 CDs, most of them highly praised by radio and the press, document his work. Most recently, a recording with Klaus Simon (piano) featuring songs by the late Romantic composer Erich J. Wolff was released by Naxos, which was nominated for the “Preis der deutschen Schallplattenkritik” (German Record Critics' Award).

In 2023-24, his agenda included numerous projects with Hans-Christoph Rademann as well as several concerts for the Gesellschaft der Musikfreunde in Vienna. Under the baton of Martin Haselböck, Daniel Johannsen was heard as Evangelist in Los Angeles and under Thomas Guggeis in Bach's ‘Christmas Oratorio’ in Munich. He was once again a guest at the festival Bach à Montréal and the Schubertiade Israel. For the Bachfest Leipzig, he has developed an eagerly awaited concept that brings Schubert's ‘Winterreise’ into dialogue with selected arias by Bach – in each case accompanied by the Atalante Quartet. Also in a string arrangement, and as a world première, his interpretation of the ‘Schöne Müllerin’ with the Alinde Quartet (in the form of a double CD, which also contains the original version with Christoph Hammer on the Graf grand piano from 1827) was released by hänssler.

The 2024/25 saison includes a series of concerts with Lars Ulrik Mortensen at the Nederlandse Bachvereniging, performances of Bach's ‘St Matthew Passion’ under Hans-Christoph Rademann at the Hamburg Elbphilharmonie and at the Bachfest Stuttgart (opening concert), repeatedly with the Munich Bach Choir in the Isarphilharmonie, and under David Chin at the Bachfest Malaysia. Furthermore, Daniel Johannsen will make his role debut as Male Chorus in Britten's ‘Rape of Lucretia’ at the Freiburg Opera Factory and appear under Jörg-Peter Weigle in the Berlin Philharmonie for the first time as Johannes in Franz Schmidt's oratorio ‘Das Buch mit Sieben Siegeln’.