Matthias Ettmayr (Bass)

Born: Germany

During his school days, Matthias Ettmayr was a member of the renowned Tölzer Knabenchor, where he received his musical and vocal education. "Three to four dozen times," as he puts it himself, he appeared as one of the boys in Die Zauberflöte on the stages of several European opera houses, among others in Munich and Stuttgart. After his voice changed, he received further vocal training from Gerhard Schmidt-Gaden in Bad Tölz, then later with Daphne Evangelatos and Ernst Reuter. To round off his training, he also attended master-classes with such luminaries as Kurt Equiluz. Participation in several semi-professional choruses such as the Gächinger Kantorei Stuttgart and the South German Vocal Ensemble virtually predestined him for a professional chorus.

At this point it is time to take a short glance at Matthias Ettmayr's "other" scientific career: following secondary school and civil service, he studied mechanical engineering at the Technical University and the College of Technology in Munich, and then took a job at a company in Stockdorf near Munich, and finally founded a company of his own in 1997 for EDP networks and telecommunications. This puts him in the best of company: Bernd Weikl is a graduate national economist, Hans-Peter Blochwitz came to his tenoral glory via a detour via an engineering office and the fabulous Waltraud Meier studied English and Romance Languages before beginning her singing career.

During his studies and subsequent professional activity, Matthias Ettmayr sang in the Balthasar-Neumann-Chor, made up exclusively of soloists, as well as working as a substitute in our concert chorus and with the Rundfunkchor Berlin (Radio Berlin Chorus). In contrast to amateur soloists, who mostly emerge from a chorus, a singer who would like to be accepted in a professional chorus must first assure and prove his quality as a soloist. Matthias Ettmayr has appeared and continues to appear with major choruses and orchestras at a variety of well-known festivals. In contrast to his vocal range, which is at home in the sub-cellar, the husband and father of two children likes to hit the heights during his free time and does some fairly extreme mountain climbing.

Since September of 2003 Matthias Ettmayr has been a regular member of the Chor des Bayerischen Rundfunks.

Source: BR-Online Website
Contributed by Aryeh Oron (November 2008)

Recordings of Bach Cantatas & Other Vocal Works

Conductor

As

Works

Christian Brembeck

Bass

F.N. Brauns: Markus-Passion

Links to other Sites

Matthias Ettmayr - Bass (BR-Online)