Franz Hawlata

Franz Hawlata was born in 1963 in the Bavarian town of Eichstätt where he began his musical training. He completed his studies at the Musikhochschule in Munich under the guidance of Ernst Häfliger, Hans Hotter and Erik Werba and by the late 80s had won several competitions and made his professional debut at Munich’s Gärtnerplatztheater. His international career began shortly thereafter with engagements in Lyon, San Francisco and Amsterdam.

In the 1993/94 season Franz Hawlata sang Baron Ochs in Der Rosenkavalier with Welsh National Opera, a production which launched him onto the next stage of his career and a role which became one of his great calling cards of the next decade. Franz sang this role for his debut at the Metropolitan Opera (1994/95) as well as at the Vienna State Opera, l’Opera National de Paris, Covent Garden, the Salzburg Festival, Bayerische Staatsoper Munich, San Francisco Opera, and with both the Met and the Vienna State Opera in Japan.

Since the early 90s, Franz Hawlata has enjoyed a close relationship with the Staatsoper in Vienna where he has now sung over 200 performances including, in addition to Baron Ochs, Sarastro, Rocco, Jokanaan, Kaspar, Leporello, Figaro, Wozzeck, Orest, Papageno and Daland.

Franz Hawlata sang his first Hans Sachs (Die Meistersinger) with Zubin Mehta at the Maggio Musicale in Florence in the 2003/04 season and his first Ring (as Wotan) at the Staatstheater Meiningen in 2005/06 season.

Over the past seasons, Franz Hawlata has made many major débuts: at the Paris Bastille (Mahagonny), Covent Garden (Leporello), Salzburg Festival (Osmin), Paris Chatelet (Rossignol), Liceu Barcelona (Wozzeck) and Lyric Opera of Chicago (Daland). Return productions followed: at the Met (Rigoletto), Bastille (Rusalka, Wozzeck, Capriccio), Covent Garden (Rusalka), Lyric Opera of Chicago (Der Rosenkavalier) and the Salzburg Festival (Cosi fan tutte, Don Giovanni).

Major appearances in the 2006/07 season include his first Tristan in Brussels, Der Rosenkavalier in Paris, Monte Carlo and Berlin, Rusalka in Torino and Wozzeck in San Diego. This summer marks Franz Hawlata’s debut at the Bayreuth Festival as Hans Sachs in the new production of Die Meistersinger.

Franz Hawlata is increasingly in demand as a concert singer and his discography includes: Rocco/Leonore (with Gardiner on DG Archiv); Water Spirit/Rusalka (with Mackerras on Decca); Franz Schmidt’s Buch mit sieben Siegeln (with Harnoncourt on Teldec-Warner); Loewe’s Three Wishes, Spohr’s Faust; Nicolai’s Merry Wives of Windsor and Marschner’s Vampyr as well as solo recordings of German opera arias, an all-Verdi programme as well as Lieder by Carl Loewe (all with Capriccio).