Thomas Weinhappel

Hailing from Lower Austria, Thomas Weinhappel has always set himself high standards. From his time with the Vienna Boys' Choir to his studies at the University of the Arts in Vienna, his natural optimism has fuelled his determination to shape the future and take on enormous challenges, such as the impact of the pandemic. Encouraged by Wagner specialist Stefan Mickisch, he used the enforced break caused by the pandemic to transition from lyric to heroic baritone. Although he won two of the most prestigious opera awards for his portrayal of Hamlet in 2017 and impressed as Escamillo in Singapore in 2016, Tarquinius in Ostrava in 2018, Don Giovanni in Paris in 2020 and Marcello in Vienna in 2022, these successes were not his ultimate goal. In fact, he used the lockdown period to reinvent himself in roles primarily sung in German, such as Donner, Amfortas, Wolfram, Telramund, Klingsor, Holländer, Wotan, Kaspar, Pizarro, Jochanaan and Mandryka. In July 2023, he appeared at the Klosterneuburg Festival in Vienna as Posa in Don Carlo, and in October 2023 he appeared at the NCPA in Beijing as Danilo. In 2024, he debuted as Telramund at the Wagner Festival at the Sofia State Opera, followed by Kaspar at the Eutin Festival in Germany. He received particular praise for this role in Bremerhaven in 2022. This was followed by Scarpia at the Baden Theatre in February 2025. 

During the 2025/26 season, Weinhappel will reprise his role as Count Danilo at the NCPA in Beijing, with the performance being broadcast live on Chinese television. He will also continue to hone his dramatic skills in the role of 'Meister Florian' in Schreker's opera Das Spielwerk und die Prinzessin at the Halle Opera House in Germany. This will be followed by his debut as Macbeth in Verdi's opera at the Heidenheim Opera Festival in Germany.