Olaf Bär

Baritone Olaf Bär was for many years principal member of the Semper Oper where he continues to make regular guest appearances. As the winner of the inaugural Walther Grüner Lieder Competition, Olaf Bär’s international career took flight and he is today considered to be one of the foremost Lieder interpreters of his generation, a reputation which is also documented in his numerous Lied recordings, most of them with EMI.

Olaf Bär appears worldwide in recital and has made major tours of Australia, Israel, Japan and America. Equally at home in the concert hall and opera house, Bär’s concert repertoire ranges from the baroque to the contemporary. He has appeared with many of the world’s finest orchestras and conductors including the LSO/Tilson Thomas, the COE/Solti, RCO/Harnoncourt, La Scala/Muti, the RSNO/Runnicles, the NYPO/Masur, the Accademia di Santa Cecilia/Tate and Symphonieorchester des Bayerischen Rundfunks/Maazel.

In 1998 Olaf Bär was awarded the Schumann-Preis of the city of Zwickau. Since 2004 he is professor at the Hochschule für Musik in Dresden.