Opera Scotland

Werner Hollweg Suggest updates

Born Solingen, 13 September 1936.

Died Freiburg, 1 January 2007.

German tenor.

Werner Hollweg was a stylish singer who enjoyed a lengthy career as a Mozart specialist, singing parts such as Idomeneo, Belmonte, Don Ottavio, Ferrando, Tamino and Titus in many of the leading European opera houses. His debut, in 1962, was with the Vienna Chamber Opera, and this was followed by a four year contract at Bonn.

Hollweg sang frequently at the Vienna State Opera, the Deutsche Oper Berlin, and in Zurich, where he worked many times with Nikolaus Harnoncourt. At the Salzburg Festival, Karajan conducted him in the Giorgio Strehler staging of Die Zauberflöte.

His only visit to Covent Garden was in a revival of the Anthony Besch production of La clemenza di Tito in 1976. Most of his British appearances were with guest companies at the Edinburgh Festival, as Belmonte, Titus and Ulysses.

Hollweg made his final appearances in Scotland flying in as a late replacement for performances of Haydn's Creation with the Scottish Chamber Orchestra in Aberdeen, Edinburgh and Glasgow (1987).