Michael Leibundgut – Bass

Michael Leibundgut studied choral conducting under Hans-Martin Linde at the Music Academy of Basel after completing his Matura. He went on to study voice with Yvonne Prinz (Vienna), Margreet Honig (Amsterdam), Stefan Haselhoff (Basel) and Dennis Heath (Munich), and took part in Master Classes and Workshops by Samuel Ramey, Peter Konwitschny, Mikael Eliasen, Christa Ludwig and Elisabeth Schwarzkopf.

During the 2000/01 performance season, he was a member of the International Opera Studio of the Zurich Opera, after which he was engaged at Theater St. Gallen,  where his repertoire included roles such as Gremin (“Eugene Onegin”), Alidoro (“La Cenerentola”), Sprecher (“Die Zauberflöte”), Bartolo (“Le Nozze di Figaro”), Luther/Crespel/Schlemil (“Les Contes d’Hoffmann”) und Caiaphas (“Jesus Christ Superstar”). Since 2005 Michael Leibundgut has performed as a freelance artist in guest engagements at numerous European theatres and festivals, including the Stadttheater Bern, the Theater Bielefeld, the Theater Erfurt, the Münchner Biennale (with the ensemble Klangforum Wien), the Teatro Lirico di Cagliari, the Teatro La Fenice, the Aix-en-Provence Festival, the Opéra National de Bordeaux and the Opéra de Monte Carlo,  as well as the Opéra National de Paris.

While establishing himself in the standard repertory, Michael Leibundgut has remained constant in his commitment to contemporary music and the music of the 20^th Century. Performances of operas by Andrea Lorenzo Scartazzini, Luca Mosca and Aureliano Cattaneo have figured prominently in his schedule for the past several years. In addition, he has interpreted numerous contemporary chamber music works, frequently in their world premiere performances. He has worked with conductors such as Emilio Pomarico, Lucas Vis, Andrea Molino, Roberto Abbado, Peter Kuhn, Kenneth Weiss, Hans-Martin Linde and Joachim Krause, as well as with the Raschèr Saxophone Quartet, and he has recorded a CD of Lieder by 20^th Century Swiss composers with pianist Ute Stoecklin (“Hesperos”, Guild Music), which was named “CD of the Month” by the British Internet-magazine “MusicWeb”.