Franz Gürtelschmied

Building on his early experience with the Young Singers Project of the Salzburg Festival, the young Viennese tenor Franz Gürtelschmied—who studied at the Music University of his hometown—is developing a diverse international career that has taken him to prestigious venues such as the Opéra Bastille in Paris, the Maggio Musicale Fiorentino, the Budapest Wagner Days at the MÜPA, the Leipzig Opera, Musiktheater Linz, Styriarte, the Graz Opera, and many other leading theatres.

He has performed roles including the Steersman in Wagner’s The Flying Dutchman, appearances in The Mastersingers of Nuremberg, the Young Sailor and the Shepherd in Tristan und Isolde, Pedrillo in Mozart’s The Abduction from the Seraglio, in The Magic Flute, and in Ravel’s L’heure espagnole, as well as the lyric tenor role of Baron in Lortzing’s The Poacher (Der Wildschütz).

He also devotes himself intensively to contemporary music theatre, with acclaimed performances in Krenek’s Pallas Athene Weeps (awarded the Austrian Music Theatre Prize), Eötvös’ Angels in America, and Gerd Kühr’s Stallerhof at Neue Oper Wien.

A special focus for Gürtelschmied is concert repertoire: he regularly appears as tenor soloist with leading institutions such as the Wiener Konzerthaus and the Musikverein, performing works like Handel’s Messiah, Bach’s Mass in B minor, Mozart’s Requiem, Mendelssohn’s Lobgesang, Bruckner’s Te Deum, and Haydn’s Creation, which he has also sung under conductor Ádám Fischer. Passionate about art song, he presents captivating recital programs—currently featuring works by Schubert and Strauss, Beethoven’s An die ferne Geliebte, and Schumann’s Dichterliebe, performed at the Wiener Liederherbst and in the Netherlands.

He is equally at home in musical theatre and operetta: his repertoire includes the title role in The Gypsy Baron, Rosillon in The Merry Widow, Edwin in The Csárdás Princess, Tony in Bernstein’s West Side Story, and the character tenor Pirelli in Sondheim’s Sweeney Todd. At the turn of the year 2025, Franz Gürtelschmied made his debut in New Year’s Galas at Lincoln Center in New York and in Washington, and joined the Vienna Johann Strauss Orchestra to open the Strauss Year at the KKL Luzern. Upcoming projects include his debut as the “Italian Singer” in Der Rosenkavalier and in Rameau’s Castor et Pollux.