Introducing Austrian barihunk Thomas Weinhappel

Thomas Weinhappel

Austrian barihunk Thomas Weinhappel was suggested to us by a reader who saw him in Mozart's Don Giovanni last year. We thought that we had posted about him, but were surprised to learn that we've actually not featured him before. We've now been informed that he'll be singing Papageno at the 900-seat outdoor theater Burgarena in Reinsberg, Austria where opera has been performed since 2002. Performances are on August 20 and 21. The nearby castle was built around 1000 AD to prevent attack from the Slavs.

Weinhappel began his singing career with the famed Vienna Boys’ Choir at the age of eight. As alto soloist he traveled with the Choir to the United States, South America, Canada, Germany, England and Sweden. He graduated with honors in voice from the Vienna Conservatorium and subsequently graduated magna cum laude from the Conservatorium in Vienna.

Thomas Weinhappel and Elisabeth Pratscher

Upcoming roles include Marullo in Verdi's Rigoletto with Oper Klosterneuburg starring Paolo Rumetz as Rigoletto and Daniela Fally as Gilda, Papageno with Stadttheater Baden from December 18-February 7, and the title role in Ambroise Thomas' Hamlet at the National Moravian-Silesian Theatre, which opens March 3, 2016.

You may recognize Weinhappel as the singer performing Schubert's Winterreise in Michael Haneke's award-winning film The Piano Teacher, which won three  Palme d'Or Awards at the Cannes Film Festival.

He has appeared throughout Europe, including performances at the Vienna State Opera, Bavarian State Opera, Baden State Theatre Bregenz, Neue Oper Wien, Vienna Burgtheater and Stadttheater Bern. His repertory includes the Mozart roles of Don Giovanni, Guglielmo, Papageno and Count Almavivia, as well as Count Danilo in Lehar's The Merry Widow and Master Ford in Nicolai's The Merry Wives of Windsor.