Wörner, Frank

Born in Esslingen am Neckar in southern Germany, the bass-baritone Frank Wörner studied singing and music pedagogy at the Stuttgart Conservatoire and then at the Schola Cantorum in Basel, where he devoted himself to early music and Renaissance lute, and began advanced vocal studies under the guidance of Kurt Widmer. He later returned to Stuttgart to study opera with Luisa Bosabalian and Carl Davis. 

He is active as a performer of both contemporary and classical music. In addition to his operatic engagements in Germany, Italy and Brazil as well as numerous concerts, he has worked with renowned ensembles such as Ensemble Contrechamps (Geneva), KNM Berlin, Nieuw Ensemble (Amsterdam), and Klangforum Wien. He has sung in numerous world premieres throughout Europe. Together with Ensemble Modern and fado singer Cristina Branco, Wörner appeared as the baritone soloist in a series of evening concerts presenting the song cycle Com que voz by Stefano Gervasoni, with performances in Porto, Paris, Brussels, Frankfurt, and Berlin. In October 2018 he will sing the cycle in a staged version at Madrid’s Teatro Real. He sang as a guest soloist with Musikfabrik and the RIAS Chamber Choir in Samir Odeh-Tamimi’s Hinter der Mauer in Berlin, Dresden, and Jerusalem. In 2017 he was invited to perform as a soloist with the Kyiv-based Ukho Ensemble. 

In addition to appearing in opera and concert, Wörner has also taught voice and contemporary music theatre at the Music University in Stuttgart until 2014. As a director he has staged works by György Ligeti (Aventures and Nouvelles Aventures), Samuel Beckett (Play), Georges Aperghis (Sextuor – L’Origine des espèces) and Stefan Litwin (Nacht mit Gästen). Since 2011 he has been professor of voice and Deputy Dean of the Voice Department at the Saarbrücken Conservatoire (Germany). Frank Wörner has taught masterclasses in contemporary vocal music at the Conservatoire Supérieur (Paris) and in Warsaw as well as universities in Bucharest, Graz, and Harvard.