Thorsten Grümbel

Thorsten Grümbel studied singing in Lübeck and Detmold. The Kiel-born winner of several competitions moved from the ensemble of the Deutsche Oper am Rhein to the Frankfurt Opera in 2009 after ten years. In 2012, the bassist returned to the local ensemble. Engagements have taken him to internationally important opera houses and concert halls as well as to the festivals in Mézières, Montreux, Strasbourg, Savonlinna, Ludwigsburg, Nantes, Schwerin and St. Margarethen, among others. Extensive radio, CD and DVD recordings document his versatile work. His broad repertoire includes the Mozart roles of Osmin ("Die Entführung aus dem Serail"), Figaro and Bartolo ("Le nozze di Figaro"), Komtur ("Don Giovanni") and Sarastro ("Die Zauberflöte"), the Verdi roles of Banquo ("Macbeth"), Zaccaria ("Nabucco"), Count Walter ("Luisa Miller"), Fiesco ("Simon Boccanegra") and Philipp II. ("Don Carlos"), as well as the Wagnerian roles of Landgrave ("Tannhäuser"), Hunding, Fasolt and Fafner ("Der Ring des Nibelungen"), King Heinrich ("Lohengrin"), Gurnemanz ("Parsifal"), Daland ("Der fliegende Holländer"), King Marke ("Tristan und Isolde") and R. Strauss' Count Waldner ("Arabella") and Ochs ("Der Rosenkavalier"). He has also appeared on stage as Don Basilio (Rossini's "Il barbiere di Siviglia"), Falstaff (Nicolai's "Die lustigen Weiber von Windsor"), Frank (J. Strauss (son)'s "Die Fledermaus"), in the title role of Don Pasquale (Donizetti) and in a variety of other works from Monteverdi to Hindemith. At the Deutsche Oper am Rhein, Thorsten Grümbel's most recent roles have included the Loudspeaker in Ullmann's "Der Kaiser von Atlantis", Frank, Fanfner, Daland, Bartolo and the Cardinal in Tchaikovsky's "Die Jungfrau von Orléans". In the 2023/24 season, his roles will include Cardinal, Uncle Bonzo, Gegner/Wilder Mann in Eggert's "Iwein Löwenritter" and Sarastro again. At the Hamburg State Opera he is also making a repeat guest appearance as Frank.