Bernd Valentin

Univ.-Prof. for Solo Voice⋅Department Vocal Studies⋅Pre-College

Baritone Bernd Valentin studied singing with Claudio Nicolai and Klesie Kelly in Cologne. Permanent engagements have taken him to the theaters in Kiel and Hagen, the Hanover State Opera and the Deutsche Oper Berlin. He is university professor for solo singing at the Mozarteum University and regularly gives singing courses in Austria, Germany and Spain.

After his permanent engagements, Bernd Valentin worked as a freelancer, made guest appearances in Aachen, Berlin, Bonn, Hanover, Nuremberg, Munich, in Bern and Basel, in Innsbruck and at the Volksoper Vienna, and expanded his repertoire with numerous new roles such as Krenek's "Jonny", Ullmann's "Kaiser Overall", Debussy's "Pelléas", Berlioz's "Chorèbe," Bizet's "Zurga," Gluck's "Agamemnon," Braunfels's "Jakobäus," Janáček's "Förster" and "Prus," Puccini's "Lescaut," d'Albert's "Sebastiano" and "Golem," Strauss's "Mandryka," Catalani's "Gellner," Verdi's "Don Carlo" and "Falstaff," and Berg's "Wozzeck."

Bernd Valentin has been invited to give concerts at the Konzerthaus Berlin, the Frauenkirche Dresden, the Liederhalle Stuttgart and the Philharmonie am Gasteig Munich, and has been a guest at festivals across Europe, in Asia and America. He has sung world premieres of works by Gubaidulina and Sandström, under Helmuth Rilling, and Ben-Haim's "Joram" with the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra in Tel Aviv.

The arrangement of song recitals is also an important concern for Bernd Valentin. In addition to interpreting song cycles such as Schubert's "Winterreise", Schumann's "Dichterliebe" and "Liederkreis", Wolf's "Italienisches Liederbuch", Mahler's "Lieder eines fahrenden Gesellen" and "Wunderhorn-Lieder", Martin's "Jedermann-Monologe", Poulenc's "Le Bal masqué" and Reimann's "Dark and Shine", he particularly enjoys putting together programmatic song recitals.

In 2017, he appeared as "Zurga" in Bizet's "Les Pêcheurs de Perles" in Kaiserslautern, as "Gellner" in Catalani's "LA Wally" at the Volksoper Wien (WA 2018), and as the performer of the four "villains" in Offenbach's "Les Contes d'Hoffmann" in Innsbruck. In 2018, he gave recitals in Italy and Germany and made a guest appearance at the Volksoper Wien. In November he sang Mahler's "Lied von der Erde" with the orchestra of the Pfalztheater in Kaiserslauterjn and Brahms Requiem. As a university professor for solo singing, Bernd Valentin teaches a singing class at the Mozarteum University in Salzburg and gives singing courses in Austria, Germany and Spain.