Biography
Having received his first musical training at the Vienna Boys’ Choir and at the Music High School in Salzburg, the Austrian tenor began his professional vocal studies at the Music University “Mozarteum” in Salzburg and graduated later with a master of arts degree at the University of Music and Performing Arts in Vienna.
Still during his academic studies Alexander Mayr made his opera debut as Toni in Hans Werner Henze’s “Elegy for Young Lovers” with great success at the Odeon Theater in Vienna. Shortly thereafter, he was invited to sing the title role of the opera “Schreber” by Peter Androsch at the Stadttheater Klagenfurt and became a member of the opera ensemble of the Deutsche Oper am Rhein in Düsseldorf. As a specialist for high tenor roles, such as the Nose and the Sergeant in Shostakovich’s “The Nose,” the Astrologer in Rimsky-Korsakov’s “The Golden Cockerel,” and the Student Arkenholz in Reimann’s “The Ghost Sonata” these roles form an important focus in his repertoire.
Very early in his career he came into contact with the music of the 20th and 21st century and since then he has been very successful as an interpreter of contemporary music: For instance in the title role of the opera “Ion” at the Aldeburgh Festival and the Almeida Festival in the UK, as Kaufmann in Rihms “Jakob Lenz” at the Salzburg Festival, or with the tenor role of the internationally acclaimed opera world premiere of Stockhausen’s “Sonntag aus Licht” at the Cologne Opera House.His traditional repertoire from the baroque to the romantic era includes opera and operetta roles, such as Mengone (Lo Speziale/Haydn), Basilio (Le Nozze di Figaro), Janek (Vec Makropulos/Janacek), Armande (Count of Luxembourg), Brioche (Merry Widow), Stanislaus (Der Vogelhändler), Spalanzani and Franz/Cochenille/Pittichinaccio/Andreas (Les Contes d’Hoffmann), Trin (La Fanciulla del West/Puccini), Scaramucio (Ariadne), Protagonist (The Protagonist/Weill), and much more.
In recent years he has collaborated with several renowned conductors and stage directors such as Stefan Soltesz, David Parry, Peter Keuschnig, Johannes Kalitzke, Christoph Loy, Brigitte Fassbänder, Andrea Schwalbach, Stein Winge, Sir Peter Ustinov, La Fura dels Baus at the theaters in Innsbruck, Klagenfurt, Basel, Lucerne, Lübeck and Oldenburg, at the Neue Oper Wien, Wiener Kammeroper, at the Deutsche Oper am Rhein in Düsseldorf, the Cologne Opera and the Wuppertal Opera House, at the Greek National Opera in Athens and the Opera Kiel, the Opera Zuid in Maastricht, at the Aalto Theater Essen and at the Frankfurt Opera House, at the Operette-Festival in Bad Ischl, as well as at the Aldeburgh and the Almeida Festival (London), the Osterklang Festival in Vienna and the International Opera Festival in Zwolle / NL, as well as at the Salzburg Festival and the Bregenz Festival.
Accompanied by the Vienna Radio Symphony Orchestra, the Camerata Academica Salzburg, the Northwest German Philharmonic Orchestra, the Ensemble Contrechamps and other orchestras, Alexander Mayr has performed various concert programs, such as Orff’s “Carmina Burana”, opera and operetta galas and more at the Vienna Concert House, the Dortmund Concert House, at the Brucknerhaus in Linz, the Mozarteum Concert Hall in Salzburg and at the Radio Studio Ernest Ansermet in Geneva.
In addition to his stage appearance as a tenor Alexander Mayr also sang in several concerts and opera productions as a countertenor.
His discography includes CD recordings of Carl Orff’s “Carmina Burana”, Michael Mautner’s “Dantes Fest”, a CD and DVD live recordings of Claudio Monteverdi’s “Orfeo” from the Deutsche Oper am Rhein in Düsseldorf and Ernst Krenek’s “Karl V.” from the Bregenz Festival 2008.
Alexander Mayr is Univ. Professor of Voice and Applied Vocal Didactics at the Antonio Salieri Department of Vocal Studies and Vocal Research in Music Education at the mdw – University of Music and performing Arts in Vienna. He regularly teaches Masterclasses at the Summer Academy Lilienfeld, the International Music Academy Ferdinand Rebay in Heiligenkreuz and at the Music University in Geneva (more information: www.belcanto-vienna.at).
For several years, Alexander Mayr has also conducted artistic and scientific research projects focusing on the topics „historical singing techniques and aesthetics – especially of the bel canto tradition“, „historical performance practice of vocal literature“ as well as „singing physiology“ and „acoustic phenomena of phonation“ (publications, among others, in the Journal of Voice or the Vox Humana). For his artistic and scientific dissertation entitled “The voce faringea, reconstruction of a forgotten art” he was awarded with the doctor artium title (with distinction) at the University of Music and performing Arts in Graz (www.voce-faringea.com). His book on the subject appeared in 2018 in the program of Bärenreiter publishing (ISBN 978-3-7618-2468-9).