After his debut with the Berliner Philharmoniker under Nikolaus Harnoncourt Austrian bass-baritone Markus Butter was immediately re-invited for concerts under Herbert Blomstedt in March 2011. Before he debuted with the Staatskapelle Dresden under Daniel Harding, WDR Symphony Orchestra Cologne under Semyon Bychkov, Orchestre de Paris under Paavo Järvi, at the Bachakademie Stuttgart under Helmuth Rilling and at the Wiener Musikverein under Fabio Luisi.

After a Don Giovanni-production at the Theater an der Wien in summer 2009 Markus Butter debuted at the New National Theatre (Papageno in Zauberflöte). At the Sächsische Staatsoper Dresden, where he has been member since 2005, he appears this season in the new production of Franz Schmidt’s Notre Dame. Last year he sang in Dresden in Tannhäuser, Fidelio, Zauberflöte und the main role in the new production of Hans-Werner Henze’s L’upupa.

In 2007 Markus Butter made his opera debut at the Salzburger Festspiele as Ottokar in a new production of Weber’s Freischütz under Markus Stenz, sang in a new production of Orlando Paladino at the Theater an der Wien under Nikolaus Harnoncourt and made his concert debut at the Teatro alla Scala. He performed concerts with the Münchner Philharmoniker, MDR Symphony Orchestra Leipzig, Orchestre de la Suisse Romande Geneve, Orchestre dell’ Accademia Nazionale Santa Cecilia di Roma and works by Haendel and Bach under the baton of Peter Schreier in Italy, France and Spain. Zubin Mehta invited him several times to the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra. Markus Butter also worked with Bertrand de Billy, Kirill Petrenko, Bruno Bartoletti, Stefan Soltesz and Wolfgang Sawallisch.

Guest-appearances took Markus Butter to the Deutsche Staatsoper Berlin, Oper Köln, Nationaltheater Mannheim, Teatro Regio di Parma, Konzerthaus Berlin, Philharmonie Köln, Ruhrtriennale, Wiener Klangbogen and to the Brucknerfest Linz. At the Deutsche Oper am Rhein, where he was member between 2001 and 2005, he broadened his repertoire continuously. From 1999-2001 he was member of the Bayerische Staatsoper München.

Markus Butter was born in Bruck an der Mur (Austria) in 1973. He was member of the Wiener Sängerknaben and studied at the Johann Josef Fux-Conservatory in Graz and at the Academy of Music in Graz. He attended master-classes with Kammersänger Walter Berry and continued his recital-studies with Fritz Schwinghammer at the Academy of Music in Munich. In 1997 he was awarded the 2^nd prize at the International Competition „Das Schubert-Lied“ in Vienna.

2010