Manfred Bittner (Bass-Baritone)

Born: Weißenburg, Bavaria, Germany

The German bass-baritone, Manfred Bittner, received his basic musical education at the Regensburger Domspatzen boys´ choir. He studied in Munich in the class of Wolfgang Brendel and at the same time was awarded a scholarship from the Deutsche Bühnenverein for the Bayerische Theaterakademie at Prinzregententheater and the Opera School Munich. Subsequently Manfred Bittner completed continuative studies in Stuttgart and attended master-classes, amongst others by Andreas Schmidt and Thomas Quasthoff. Momentarily he is being coached by Stefan Haselhoff.

Manfred Bittner´s comprehensive and widely varied repertory draws a bow from medieval music as well as operas and oratories from the Baroque, Vienna Classicism and Romanticism eras to debut performances of contemporary music. Numerous radio and CD recordings as well as concert tours of Europe, Australia, Japan and Southeast Asia round off his artistic work.

The bass-baritone regularly works together with renowned ensembles like L’arpa festante, Freiburger Barockconsort, Balthasar-Neumann-Ensemble, Concerto Köln and Hamburg Camerata, with conductors like Winfried Toll, Stephen Stubbs, Frieder Bernius, Philippe Herreweghe, René Jacobs and Thomas Hengelbrock as well as stage directors like Barry Kosky and Claus Guth.

Manfred Bittner amongst others gave guest performances at the Biennale für Neue Musik München, Wiener Festwochen, Berliner Festspiele / Festwochen, Bachfest Leipzig and Europäische Musikfest Stuttgart. Recently he sang Masetto in Mozart´s Don Giovanni at the Feldkirch Festival 2006 under the direction of Thomas Hengelbrock, and in the opera Il Guistino by Giovanni Legrenzi at the Schwetzinger Festspielen. In 2009 he appeared as a guest at the Stadttheater Fürth in the role of Tod (Death) in Der Kaiser von Atlantis by Viktor Ullmann.

Source: Manfred Bittner Website
Contributed by Aryeh Oron (October 2010)

Recordings of Bach Cantatas & Other Vocal Works

Conductor

As

Works

Georg Hage

Bass

BWV 245 [Christus]

Links to other Sites

Manfred Bittner - Bassbariton (Official Website) [Mostly German]