In summer 2007, Austrian bass-baritone Markus Butter made his opera debut at the Salzburger Festspiele as Ottokar in a new production of Weber’s Freischütz, directed by Falk Richter and conducted by Markus Stenz. In October 2007 he made a further important debut with Brahms-Requiem at Teatro alla Scala. November 2007 marks his first collaboration with Nikolaus Harnoncourt at the Theater an der Wien in a new production of Orlando Paladino; in summer 2008 he sings Die Zauberflöte there as well. Concerts take him to Florence, Sevilla and Cologne, where he performs Bach’s Weihnachtsoratorium and Johannes-Passion and Haydn’s Schöpfung under the baton of Peter Schreier and Markus Stenz. He has been with the Sächsische Staatsoper Dresden for two seasons, and in 2007/08 he performs Zauberflöte, Nozze di Figaro, La Bohème, Madama Butterfly, Lohengrin and Götterdämmerung there.

Guest-appearances led him to Oper Köln (Janacek’s Cunning little Vixen), Wiener Klangbogen-Festival (Dalibor under Kirill Petrenko and Don Giovanni under Bertrand de Billy) and to Theater St. Gallen, where he sang the title-role of Lortzing’s Zar and Zimmermann. Under the baton of Bruno Bartoletti he sang in a new production of Gluck’s Alceste at Teatro Regio di Parma. At Deutsche Oper am Rhein in Düsseldorf/Duisburg, where he was member between 2001/02 and 2004/05, Markus Butter broadened his repertoire continuously with important parts such as Tchaikovsky’s Eugene Onegin. Gerard Mortier engaged the artist for Masetto in Don Giovanni for the first Ruhrtriennale in 2002. Singing this same part Markus Butter later was guest at Oper Köln and Deutsche Staatsoper Berlin.

With the Münchner Philharmoniker under Fabio Luisi he sang in Monteverdi’s Combattimento and with the MDR Symphony Orchestra Schubert’s Lazarus. Peter Schreier engaged the young artist for Haendel’s Messiah in Parma and for a France-tour of the St. John Pssion. Under Zubin Mehta he sang a series of concert performances of Beethoven’s Fidelio in Israel, and performed concerts at the Gewandhaus Leipzig and in Stavanger. At the Accademia Nazionale Santa Cecilia di Roma he appeared as Joseph in Berlioz’ L’Enfance du Christ. Together with the Israel Philharmonic under Wolfgang Sawallisch he sang Mendelssohn’s Elijah and in Graz he could be heard in Dvorak’s Stabat Mater under Milan Horvat. In 2000 Markus Butter celebrated his debut at the Salzburger Festspiele and at the Brucknerfest Linz. He performed at the Konzerthaus Berlin, Philharmonie Köln, Victoria Hall Genève, and Stefaniensaal Graz and made his Recital-debut at the Wiener Musikverein. Under the baton of Zubin Mehta he sang Joseph Haydn‘s Missa in tempore belli in January 1999 in Munich, and was invited by Wolfgang Sawallisch to participate in the opening of the Richard Strauss-Festival at the Bayerische Staatsoper München, where he was member during the season of 1999/2000.

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.

2007/08