René Pape

René Pape is a leading German bass who has won two Grammy Awards for his performances of Wagner. Emerging into international attention in the early '90s, he received his first Grammy for the 1998 Best Opera Recording winner, Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg, featuring the Chicago Symphony Orchestra. He later made his film debut in Kenneth Branagh's 2006 screen adaptation of The Magic Flute, and he won Germany's equivalent of the Grammy, an ECHO award, for his 2009 album Gods, Kings & Demons, a wide-ranging selection of arias recorded with the Staatskapelle Dresden. Pape performed in Beethoven's Ninth Symphony at the BBC Proms in 2012 and starred as Boris Godunov at the Metropolitan Opera in 2021, among his many other high-profile international performances. His repertoire also includes the work of more-contemporary composers, including his appearance on the 2025 premiere recording of Sven Helbig's Requiem A, for bass-baritone, chorus, and orchestra. Pape had a musical upbringing in Dresden, where he was a member of the Dresdner Kreuzchor. He studied singing at Dresden's Carl Maria von Weber Music Academy. After graduation, he was invited in 1988 to join the company of the Berlin Staatsoper Unter den Linden. His joining East Germany's premier opera company practically coincided with the unification of Berlin and Germany, and gave him opportunities to travel that would not have been so easily obtained just a few years earlier. He sang the role of the Minister in Beethoven's Fidelio in both the Salzburg Easter Festival and the regular Salzburg Festival, both times under the baton of Kurt Masur. In 1991, he returned to Salzburg in the role of Sarastro in The Magic Flute, directed by Georg Solti, then repeated the role in his first Hamburg State Opera appearance. He expanded into the dramatic baritone repertory as Banco in Verdi's Macbeth (in Frankfurt) and as King Philipp in Verdi's Don Carlos (in Basel). He sang the Beethoven role of the Minister again at Expo 1992 in Seville with the touring Metropolitan Opera Company. The New York opera house also became like a second home to him, alongside the Berlin State Opera. He has frequently sung as a guest artist at the Vienna State Opera. Pape was a favorite of Sir Georg Solti, who brought him to Chicago to sing in Haydn's The Seasons and in his worldwide 1991 video broadcast of Mozart's Requiem. He won his first Grammy Award in 1998 for the 1997 Decca recording of Wagner's Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg with Solti and the Chicago Symphony Orchestra (Best Opera Recording). This brought Pape to the attention of broadcasters and record companies, so he appeared more frequently both in radio and TV productions and on recordings, including singing the role of Pogner in Die Meistersinger under Solti and of King Heinrich in Lohengrin with the Berlin Staatsoper. He has since sung most of Wagner's great bass roles. In July 2000, Pape was named a "Kammersänger of Berlin." He played Sarastro in Kenneth Branagh's 2006 adaptation of The Magic Flute for his film debut. Pape's first solo recording, Gods, Kings & Demons, a selection of arias with the Staatskapelle Dresden under Sebastian Weigle, appeared on Deutsche Grammophon in 2008 and won him an ECHO award. A set of Wagner favorites simply titled Wagner followed on the same label in 2011. In 2012, he appeared at BBC Proms as part of the presentation of Beethoven's Ninth Symphony, as well as contributing to a live recording of Verdi's Requiem at La Scala under Daniel Barenboim. Some of his recording output throughout the rest of the decade included Wagner's Das Rheingold with the Mariinsky Orchestra conducted by Valery Gergiev, Strauss's Elektra with Staatskapelle Dresden and Christian Thielemann, and Beethoven: Symphonies 9 with the Wiener Symphoniker, conducted by Philippe Jordan. In the next decade, Pape's many starring roles around the world included Boris Godunov at the Metropolitan Opera in 2021 and 2022. His repertoire has also included works by 20th and 21st century composers, including his appearance on the premiere recording of Sven Helbig's Requiem A, which Deutsche Grammophon released in 2025. A work for choir, orchestra, and bass soloist, the album also featured the Dresdner Kreuzchor and Staatskapelle Dresden under Martin Lehmann. ~ Joseph Stevenson & Marcy Donelson, Rovi