The Munich-born tenor Werner Güra is a graduate of the Mozarteum in Salzburg. He began his vocal studies with Kurt Widmer in Basel, Margreet Honig in Amsterdam, and Wessela Zlateva in Vienna. Following guest appearances in Frankfurt and Basel, he became a member of the ensemble at the Semperoer in Dresden, where he was heard in important Mozart and Rossini roles. He has sung under Daniel Barenboim at the Berlin Staatsoper, in productions of The Magic Flute (at the Paris National Opera and La Monnaie in Brussels), sang the role of Ferrando (Così fan tutte) at the Teatro Carlo Felice in Genua and the Innsbruck Early Music Festival, and Don Ottavio under René Jacobs at the Baden-Baden Festival. He has given concerts and oratorio performances in important venues across Europe, working with the Berlin Philharmonic, the Staatskapelle Dresden, the Gewandhaus Orchestra in WOLF: ITALIENISCHES LIEDERBUCH | 17 Leipzig, the Vienna Symphony, the London Philharmonic, the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra, the BBC Symphony, and various German and Dutch radio orchestras. Conductors include Claudio Abbado, Riccardo Chailly, Michel Corboz, Sir Colin Davis, Bernard Haitink, Daniel Harding, Thomas Hengelbrock, René Jacobs, Ton Koopman, Kurt Masur, Yannick Nézet-Séguin, Trevor Pinnock, George Pretre, and Peter Schreier. He has also had the good fortune of working regularly with Nikolaus Harnoncourt. Werner Güra is known above all as an internationally recognized interpreter of lieder and can be heard regularly at Wigmore Hall, the Concertgebouw, the Philharmonie in Cologne, the Lucerne Festival, Lincoln Centre in New York, and Schubertiads in Schwarzenberg and Barcelona. He began recording for Harmonia Mundi in 2000, releasing Schubert’s Die schöne Müllerin, Schumann’s Dichterliebe and Liederkreis, Op 39, and Hugo Wolf’s Mörike Lieder with Jan Schultsz. Many recordings with pianist Christoph Berner have been well received by both the pubic and among critics. Among them are Schöne Wiege meiner Leiden, Schubert’s Schwanengesang, lieder by Mozart, Schubert’s Winterreise, Willkommen und Abschied, Scottish Airs by Haydn, lieder and bagatelles by Beethoven, the Liebeslieder Waltzes by Brahms, and Schumann’s Spanische Liebeslieder. Werner Güra is the recipient of various recording industry awards including the Diapason d’or, the BBC Music Magazine Award and the ECHOKlassik- Preis. He has also been teaching voice at the Zurich University of Music since 2009.
