Michael Leibundgut – Bass

Michael Leibundgut has established himself as a specialist in contemporary music, as well as music of the 20th Century.  Over the past years, world premieres of operas by Gregory Vajda (“Zauberberg” – Davos Festival), Luca Mosca (“Signor Goldoni” – Teatro La Fenice),  Aureliano Cattaneo (“La philosophie dans le labyrinthe” – with the Klangforum Wien at the Biennale München and in the Museumsquartier Wien) and Andrea Lorenzo Scartazzini (“Wut” – Theater Erfurt) have formed the core of his artistic endeavors. In addition, he covered the role of Herr Winkelmann in Friedrich Haas’ world premiere performance of “Melancholia” at the Opéra National de Paris. Additional performances of recent years have brought him to the Teatro lirico Cagliari, the Festival Aix-en-Provence, the Opéra National de Bordeaux and the Opéra de Monte Carlo. He has also interpreted numerous contemporary chamber compositions, most recently triumphing in Karlheinz Stockhausen’s Havona (14th hour of “Klang”) at the Musiktriennale Köln.

During the 2010-11 season Michael Leibundgut will make his debut with the Oper Köln in Stockhausen’s “Sonntag” from the cycle “Licht”, as well as with the Lucerne Festival in Georg Friedrich Haas’ “Nacht”, a production which will later be presented at “Gare du Nord” in Basel.

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). He was a member of the International Opera Studio of the Zurich Opera, after which he was engaged at the Theater St. Gallen, where he sang numerous roles in the classical repertoire.  He participated in master classes and workshops by Samuel Ramey, Peter Konwitschny, Mikael Eliasen, Christa Ludwig and Elisabeth Schwarzkopf, and worked with conductors such as Emilio Pomarico, Lucas Vis, Andrea Molino, Roberto Abbado, Peter Kuhn, Kenneth Weiss, Hans-Martin Linde and Joachim Krause.

Michael Leibundgut has recorded a CD of Lieder by 2oth Century Swiss composers with pianist Ute Stoecklin (“Hesperos”, Guild Music), which was named “CD of the Month” by the British Internet-magazine “MusicWeb”.