Georg Festl turns heads with sexy Golaud in Freiburg

Georg Festl in Pelléas et Mélisande (Photo: Rainer Muranyi)

German barihunk Georg Festl certainly caught the attention of the audience with his sexy, oft-shirtless performance of Golaud in Debussy's Pelléas et Mélisande at the Theater Freiburg. We thought readers might enjoy seeing a few of the pictures, since the run ended on July 20. This was his role debut.

For those not familiar with the piece, the opera is tragic love triangle involving two noble half-brothers, Golaud and Pelléas, and the enigmatic Mélisande, who comes into their lives unexpectedly after a tremendous and undisclosed personal calamity. She marries Golaud, but he is soon convinced of her illicit union with his brother, and his jealous rage ends in Pélleas’ murder.  Mélisande dies after giving birth to a child.

Georg Festl in Pelléas et Mélisande (Photo: Rainer Muranyi)

Festl make his house debut at the Opernhaus Zürich next Spring as Masetto in Don Giovanni in a cast led by fellow barihunk Luca Pisaroni in the title role, Andreas Wolf as Leporello, Wenwei Zhang as the Commendatore, Jane Archibald as Donna Anna, Sine Bundgaard as Donna Elvira, Mauro Peter as Don Ottavio and Natalia Tanasi as Zerlina. 

Georg Festl was born in Nuremberg, Germany and studied English and American studies at the University of Music Würzburg. After graduating, he was cast as Artie Green in Andrew Lloyd Webber’s Sunset Boulevard at the Mainfrankentheater Würzburg.  He is a recipient of the Richard-Wagner Society scholarship and the Da-Ponte Society scholarship