Michael Borth

Baritone Michael Borth is despite his young age a singer with quite a lot of experience and a wide-ranging repertoire from baroque to 20th century music, from oratorio (Mendelssohn's Paulus at Berliner Philharmonie 2014) to contemporary opera (2020/21 debut in Peter Maxwell Davies' chamber opera Mr. Emmet takes a walk).

First impulses for a professional stage career came out of a participation in musical productions at school where he succeeded in leading roles.

Michael Borth studied in Weimar with Siegfried Gohritz and in Berlin at Hochschule für Musik Hanns Eisler with KS Roman Trekel, followed by 2 years in Valencia as a member of the Centre de Perfeccionament Plácido Domingo. Michael's roles in Valencia included his debut as Albert in Massenet's Werther (with Anna Caterina Antonacci as Charlotte) and as Benoît in La Bohème, but also Il Dio in Händel's Silla, conducted by the famous baroque specialist Fabio Biondi.

Another essential field of Michael‘s artistic activities are Lieder, so he sang compositions by Robert Schumann and french composers in a concert in Valencia, accompagnied by Roger Vignoles, and successfully took part in the Enschede Lied Competition (audience award).

During the last years he performed with a number of distinguished conductors such as Roberto Abbado, Emmanuel Villaume, Daniel Cohen, Josep Pons, Jordan de Souza. Important technical and artistic impulses were also given by Thomas Quasthoff, Gregory Kunde, Plácido Domingo, Ann Murray, Juan Diego Florez, Chris Merritt, Aris Argiris, Manuela Custer.

In 2018/19 Michael Borth joined the soloist ensemble of Theater Freiburg, where he had a promising start with debuts in 2 of the most prestigious baritone roles, Onegin and Don Giovanni, followed by Conte Almaviva in Mozart's Le Nozze di Figaro. His beautiful warm voice with radiant colours and his strong stage presence impress and convince audience and critics. He also appeared as Dr. Falke in Die Fledermaus and in a rarely performed opera by Erich Korngold (Der Ring des Polykrates) for that he was mentioned at Opernglas in February 2020: “Michael Borth as Peter Vogel is so much fun, with his comedic appearance and powerful, clear baritone voice (…)”.

For the season 2020/21 he is looking forward to interpret the role of Mr. Emmet in Sir Peter Maxwell Davies' eponymous chamber opera as a new facet of contemporary music in his repertoire.