Andreas Bauer Kanabas
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Andreas Bauer Kanabas sings the principal roles in the dramatic bass repertoire, particularly in Verdi and Wagner and major roles in the Slavic operatic repertoire. His powerful voice, with its wide range, warm timbre, and refined legato, makes him a basso cantante of great versatility. He has been a member of the Frankfurt Opera ensemble since 2013, where he has established himself as a distinguished bass on the international opera scene.

Andreas Bauer Kanabas made his successful debut at the Bayreuth Festival in 2025 as King Heinrich (Lohengrin), a role he had previously sung at the Vienna State Opera, the New National Theatre Tokyo, the Deutsche Oper Berlin, as well as in Taiwan and at the Frankfurt Opera.

He is scheduled to return as King Heinrich to the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, in 2029. He will also appear at the Bayreuth Festival again in 2026 as Colonna in Wagner’s Rienzi, a role that will take him to the Semperoper Dresden in 2027, where he will also appear as Baron Ochs in Der Rosenkavalier.

In the 2024/25 season, he made his debut as Daland at the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam and appeared at the Deutsche Oper am Rhein as Boris in a new production of Shostakovich’s Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk. His interpretation of Gurnemanz (Parsifal) at Oper Frankfurt was particularly well received and widely acclaimed.

During the 2022–23 season, he made his debut as Pogner in Wagner’s Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg at Frankfurt Opera, and also performed the role at the Tokyo Spring Festival and under Christian Thielemann at the Semperoper Dresden. He appeared as De Silva in Verdi’s Ernani in Antwerp and Ghent, and made a highly successful debut as Baron Ochs (Der Rosenkavalier) at Irish National Opera in Dublin.

During the COVID-19 shutdown in 2020, Andreas sang the role of Vodnik in Dvořák’s Rusalka at the Teatro Real in Madrid. He appeared to great acclaim as Rocco (Fidelio) at the Hamburg State Opera, and performed alongside Jonas Kaufmann in concert appearances in Gstaad and Grafenegg in summer 2022.

His solo album Love and Despair (OhemsClassics), featuring Romantic bass arias, was released in September 2021 to critical acclaim. His first lieder recital album, Franz Schubert’s Schwanengesang with pianist Daniel Heide, followed in February 2023 and was likewise received with critical acclaim.

In 2019, Andreas Bauer Kanabas made numerous debuts, including as Philippe II (Don Carlo, in French) in Antwerp and Ghent, Padre Guardiano (La forza del destino) at Frankfurt Opera, Escamillo (Carmen) at the Bolshoi Theatre in Moscow, Alfonso d’Este (Lucrezia Borgia) in Toulouse, and Sarastro (Die Zauberflöte) at the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, London.

He has also appeared as Sarastro at the Berlin State Opera, Komische Oper Berlin, Festival de Perelada, as well as in Paris, Dresden, Budapest, Abu Dhabi, Malmö, Perth, Adelaide, Auckland, and Frankfurt.

Andreas Bauer Kanabas made his Canadian debut in summer 2019 to outstanding success as Daland (Der fliegende Holländer) at the Festival d’Opéra de Québec, a role he had previously performed at the Deutsche Oper Berlin and at the Auditorio Nacional in Madrid, where he appeared alongside Sir Bryn Terfel.

In 2018 in Riga, he sang Duke de Silva in Verdi’s Ernani for the first time, conducted by Daniel Oren. In the same venue, he also appeared as Zaccaria, a role he had previously sung in Seattle, in Sassari and at the Leipzig Opera.

One of his signature roles is Méphistophélès in Gounod’s Faust, which he performed to great acclaim in an award-winning production at the Latvian National Opera in Riga in 2016, broadcast on arte.

In 2015, he sang the Hermit in Weber’s Der Freischütz in a new production conducted by Christian Thielemann at the Semperoper Dresden. The production was released on DVD by Unitel Classica.

Andreas Bauer Kanabas grew up in Jena, Thuringia, where he sang in various choirs from an early age and played the piano. He originally intended to study sound engineering before turning to vocal studies. He studied voice with Prof. Eugen Rabine in Weimar, later with Paolo Barbacini in Italy, Robert Lloyd in London, and Robert Gonnella in Toulouse.

As a lieder singer, he works closely with pianist Daniel Heide. He also expresses his deep gratitude to Peter Frank in Weimar, who has accompanied him as teacher and mentor for over 25 years.

As an internationally sought-after concert singer, Andreas Bauer Kanabas has performed Mozart’s Requiem at La Scala in Milan, Verdi’s Requiem at the Gasteig in Munich, Schumann’s Manfred with Claudio Abbado and the Berlin Philharmonic at the Berlin Philharmonie, Schumann’s Scenes from Goethe’s Faust at the Tonhalle Düsseldorf, and Haydn’s The Creation at the Verbier Festival in Switzerland as well as at the Müpa New Year’s Concert 2026 in Budapest.

His performance of Bach’s Elias with the WDR Symphony Orchestra was broadcast live from the Cologne Philharmonie in 2016, and in 2019 he appeared in Bartók’s Bluebeard’s Castle (concert version) there under Jukka-Pekka Saraste. In 2025, Mahler’s Symphony No. 8, in which he appeared as Pater Profundus, was broadcast live from Berlin’s Hangar 4; in 2026, a concert performance of Elektra (as Orest) under Alan Gilbert was broadcast live by NDR from the Elbphilharmonie Hamburg.

He is regularly heard as the bass soloist in Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony in major international concert halls, with live broadcasts from venues including Tokyo’s Suntory Hall, Osaka Festival Hall, Leipzig’s Gewandhaus, and the Cologne Philharmonie. Under Marek Janowski, he also recorded the complete cycle of Beethoven symphonies for Pentatone as bass soloist.

He has collaborated with conductors such as Claudio Abbado, Sir Colin Davis, Sir Simon Rattle, Daniel Barenboim, Sebastian Weigle, Iván Fischer, Ádám Fischer, Andris Nelsons, Philippe Jordan, Pier Giorgio Morandi, Gustavo Dudamel, and Christian Thielemann.