Lukas Kargl

Lukas Kargl was born in Styria, Austria, into a large, musical family and spent his early years in the mountainous region of Gaal.

As a child he took lessons in piano, and gained a strong foundation in musicianship from his father, Otto Kargl, by singing with his choir capella nova Graz and at the Cathedral of St. Pölten where he was ‘Domkapellmeister’. Lukas attended the St. Pölten Conservatoire of Church Music before studying at the Vienna University for Music and Performing Arts with Leopold Spitzer and Charles Spencer. Lukas took part in masterclasses with Helena Lazarska and Kurt Widmer and appeared at Schönbrunn’s Palace Theatre as Badger/Priest in Janacek’s Cunning Little Vixen; and as Lorenzo in I Capuleti e i Montecchi (Bellini). In 2005 he made his debut at the Wiener Musikverein as Sam in Bernstein’s Trouble in Tahiti (conducted by Denis O’Sullivan), and Polyphonus in Richard Strauss’ The Donkey’s Shadow (conducted by Ernst Kovacic) at the Brucknerhaus Linz. In the summer of 2005 he sang in the chorus at the Bayreuth Festival.

In September 2005, Lukas started his post-graduate studies at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama in London with Rudolf Piernay. While at the GSMD he took masterclasses with Helmut Deutsch, Graham Johnson, Martin Katz, Emma Kirkby and John Tomlinson. In 2006 Lukas gained his MMus with Distinction, and became the recipient of scholarships from the Leverhulme Foundation and the John Lyon’s Charity enabling him to stay in London and to study on the GSMD Opera Course. Between 2006 and 2008, Lukas sang the role of The Count in Richard Strauss’ Capriccio, Papageno in Mozart’s Die Zauberflöte, Bobinet in Offenbach’s La Vie Parisienne and Don Parmenione in Rossini’s L’occasione fa il ladro.

Performance highlights in the season of 2009/2010 include his debuts at Glyndebourne Festival Opera and the BBC Proms at the Royal Albert Hall, singing the role of Phoebus under William Christie with the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment and performing in Austria for the Festival Musica Sacra in St. Pölten, at the Seckau Kultur Festival and at the Brucknerhaus Linz.

Prizes include the coveted Youngsters of Arts Prize, St. Pölten (2005) and the Patrick Libby Prize, GSMD (2007). Other competition successes include reaching the semi-finals in both the 2009 International Das Lied Competition in Berlin – accompanied by Gary Matthewman – and the 2007 Hugo Wolf Academy International Competition in the Art of Lied, Stuttgart – accompanied by Jennie-Helen Moston.

In 2008 he was selected by the Samling Foundation to take part in a week-long period of study as a Samling Scholar with Sir Thomas Allen, Paul Farrington, Patricia MacMahon and Simon Over, and he will return in the autumn of 2009 to take part in concerts and an outreach project lead by the Samling Foundation.

Lukas is also a Britten-Pears Artist having taken part in masterclasses with Gerold Huber and Christian Gerhaher in the 2008 Aldeburgh Festival. This has lead to invitations to sing for the Aldeburgh Festival’s concert series, including a Mozart Requiem in The Aldeburgh Easter Festival and a concert with Malcolm Martineau peforming Britten’s Tit for Tat which is due to be broadcast live on BBC Radio 3.

Other engagements in 2008 include Schlossfestspiele Zwingenberg, Germany (Dancairo in Bizet’s Carmen), New European Opera in Paris, Angers and London (Polyphemus in Handel’s Acis & Galatea), and Clonter Opera (Guglielmo in Mozart’s Cosi fan tutte). As Guglielmo, he was described as ‘a baritone of burnished quality … puts his voice at the service of the drama and not vice-versa.’

Lukas sang in Graham Johnson’s Young Songmakers’ Almanac 2007, giving performances at St John’s Smith Square and the Bolivar Hall in London. He was then invited to sing a selection of vocal chamber pieces accompanied by Graham Johnson on Hyperion’s disc (Vol. 10) of the Songs of Robert Schumann, reviewed by Classic FM Magazine:

“This wonderful disc feels like an intimate salon performance by a group of close friends … [with] ensemble fun from all the singers …’

Lukas Kargl has performed at the Oxford Lieder Festival, the Aldeburgh Easter Festival, the Cadogan Hall and the Barbican Hall, all to critical acclaim, being described as ‘a baritone with an eloquent voice …‘ He has also appeared across Europe in venues and festivals including the Orlandosaal in Munich; the Festspielhaus and Festival Musica Sacra in St. Pölten, the Lionzer Brucknerhaus and the Seckauer Culture Week in Austria; the Mozartwochen in Bratislava (Slovakia); and the Skupina Festival in Brezice (Slovenia), many concerts of which were broadcast live on national radio and television, and recorded for Austrian Radio Ö1.