BIOGRAPHY | PRESS | DATES | REPERTORY

Franz Hawlata

Franz Hawlata was born in the Bavarian town of Eichstätt where he began his musical training. He completed his studies at the Musikhochschule in Munich under the guidance of Ernst Haefliger, Hans Hotter and Erik Werba and by the late 80s had won several competitions and made his professional debut at Munich’s Gärtnerplatztheater. His international career began shortly thereafter with engagements in Lyon, San Francisco and Amsterdam.

In the 1993/94 season Franz Hawlata sang Baron Ochs in Der Rosenkavalier with Welsh National Opera, a production which launched him onto the next stage of his career and a role which became one of his great calling cards of the next decade. Franz sang this role for his debut at the Metropolitan Opera (1994/95) as well as at the Vienna State Opera, l’Opera National de Paris, Covent Garden, the Salzburg Festival, Bayerische Staatsoper Munich, San Francisco Opera, and with both the Met and the Vienna State Opera in Japan.

Since the early 90s, Franz Hawlata has enjoyed a close relationship with the Staatsoper in Vienna where he has now sung over 200 performances including Baron Ochs, Sarastro, Rocco, Jochanaan, Kaspar, Leporello, Figaro, Wozzeck, Orest, Papageno and Daland.

Franz Hawlata sang his first Hans Sachs (Die Meistersinger) with Zubin Mehta at the Maggio Musicale in Florence in the 2003/04 season.

Over the past seasons, Franz Hawlata has made many major débuts: at the Paris Bastille (Mahagonny), Covent Garden (Leporello), Salzburg Festival (Osmin), Paris Chatelet (Rossignol), Liceu Barcelona (Wozzeck) and Lyric Opera of Chicago (Daland). Return productions followed: at the Met (Rigoletto), Bastille (Rusalka, Wozzeck, Capriccio), Covent Garden (Rusalka), Lyric Opera of Chicago (Der Rosenkavalier) and the Salzburg Festival (Cosi fan tutte, Don Giovanni).

Recent engagements have included Rosenkavalier in Boston with Andris Nelsons, in Washington D.C. with Christoph Eschenbach und in Bonn with Dirk Kaftan, Strauss-Capriccio in Paris, Wozzeck & Lohengrin at Teatro Real Madrid, Schweigsame Frau in Munich and Essen, Zauberflöte and Lustige Weiber in Liège, Fidelio at Wiener Festwochen & Metz, Zaccaria/Nabucco at Tiroler Festspiele, Bartok Bluebird in Straßburg and Candide at Komische Oper Berlin.

At the moment his projects are Freischütz with Konzerthausorchester Berlin/Eschenbach (with TV & DVD), Rosenkavalier at Volksoper Wien, Schweigsame Frau and Fledermaus at Bayerische Staatsoper München, Fledermaus in Stuttgart, Wozzeck with Boston Symphony/Nelsons in Boston & New York and Drei Pintos with Gewandhausorchester Leipzig.

Discography:
Rocco/Leonore (with Gardiner on DG Archiv). Water Spirit/Rusalka (with Mackerras on Decca). Franz Schmidt’s Buch mit sieben Siegeln (with Harnoncourt on Teldec-Warner). Loewe’s Three Wishes, Spohr’s Faust; Nicolai’s Merry Wives of Windsor and Marschner’s Vampyr as well as solo recordings of German opera arias, an all-Verdi programme as well as Lieder by Carl Loewe (all with Capriccio). Ochs/Rosenkavalier with Fleming/Thielemann on DVD for Deutsche Gramophone.

Stefan Schmerbeck Artists Management. 3/2022