Werner Güra

German tenor Werner Güra, born in Munich, received his musical training at the Mozarteum in Salzburg and completed his vocal studies with Professor Kurt Widmer. His present singing coaches are Nicolai Gedda and Professor Margreet Honig whereas he works with Ron Murdock on his Alexander Technique.

After guesting at the opera houses of Frankfurt and Basel he joined in 1995 the ensemble of the Semperoper Dresden where he sang the Mozart parts of his Fach, such as Tamino in Die Zauberflöte, and Ferrando in Così fan tutte, as well as Lindoro in L'Italiana in Algeri, Don Ramiro in La Cenerentola, Lysander in A Midsummernight’s Dream and a staged production of Brahms' Liebesliederwalzer. In 1998, Daniel Barenboim invited Werner Güra to the Staatsoper Berlin, where he sang in productions such as Der hochmütige, gestürzte und wieder erhabene Croesus of Keiser, Ariadne auf Naxos, Die Entführung aus dem Serail (Belmonte), Così fan tutte, Il Barbiere di Siviglia (Count Almaviva), and Il ritorno d’Ulisse in patria in Berlin. He continued to guest Dresden in the new Heinrich Schütz’ production of Wie liegt die Stadt so wüste and furthermore he sang Ferrando at Teatro Carlo Felice, Genova, Tamino at the Opera of Lille, La Monnaie Brussels and  the Opéra National de Paris, Don Ottavio at the Innsbruck Festival für Alte Musik and in Baden-Baden.

From the start of his professional career, Werner Güra aimed to divide his activities equally between opera and concert. He has worked with many orchestras on European concert stages, including Berliner Philharmonisches Orchester, Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra, London Philharmonic Orchestra, Wiener Symphoniker, BBC Symphony Orchestra, the German and Dutch Radio Symphony Orchestras, the Danish National Radio Symphony Orchestra, the Gulbenkian Orchestra Lissabon, with conductors such as Peter Schreier, Trevor Pinnock, Philippe Herreweghe, René Jacobs, Ton Koopman, Helmuth Rilling, Sir Roger Norrington, Riccardo Chailly, Claudio Abbado, Marek Janowski, Armin Jordan, Nikolaus Harnoncourt, Ralf Weikert, Yannick Nézet-Séguin. He toured in Japan with Beethoven's 9th Symphony (Philippe Herreweghe) and Bach’s Johannes Passion (Michel Corboz), Händel’s Messiah and Mozart Requiem (Nikolaus Harnoncourt) . He appeared in the Konzerthaus Vienna in Haydn’s Schöpfung with Adam Fischer, at the Royal Festival Hall London with Kurt Masur and in the Concertgebouw Amsterdam as the Evangelist in Johannes Passion with Philippe Herreweghe and as Belshazzar with Marcus Creed.

Recordings include Fidelio (Jaquino) with Daniel Barenboim for Decca; under the label of Harmonia Mundi Werner Güra recorded Telemann's Orpheus, Schumann's Der Rose Pilgerfahrt, Bach's Weihnachtsoratorium and Matthäus Passion (arias), and with René Jacobs Der hochmütige, gestürzte und wieder erhabene Croesus (Edison 2002), Così fan tutte and Haydn’s Jahreszeiten. For Sony/BMG he recorded Haydn’s Orlando Paladino and Bach’s Weihnachtsoratorium, both under the baton of Nikolaus Harnoncourt.

Werner Güra is also much appreciated as Lied interpreter and gives recitals amongst others in the London Wigmore Hall, Amsterdam Concertgebouw, Lincoln Center New York, at the Barcelona Schubertiade and the Schubertiade Schwarzenberg. In autumn 2000 appeared Werner Güra's first solo recording for Harmonia Mundi: Schubert - Die schöne Müllerin, to be followed by Schumann: Dichterliebe, Liederkreis and Hugo Wolf’s Mörike Lieder, all with pianist Jan Schultsz. Latest releases, also by Harmonia Mundi and with pianist Christoph Berner, are Schöne Wiege meiner Leiden, featuring songs by Clara & Robert Schumann and Johannes Brahms, Schubert’s Schwanengesang and Mozart Lieder. All these solo CDs received the Diapason d’or and were elected Editor’s Choice in Gramophone.