Johannes Weisser was born in 1980 in Norway. He studied at the Music Conservatory in Copenhagen and at the Royal Danish Academy of Opera in Copenhagen with Susanna Eken. He has quickly made a name for himself as one of the most exciting up-and-coming Scandinavian singers.
In the spring of 2004, at the age of 23, he made his debut at the Norwegian National Opera as well as at the Komische Oper Berlin, in both houses as Masetto in Don Giovanni.
Since then he has appeared as Guglielmo in Così fan tutte at the Salzburg Festival, at Opéra national du Rhin Strasbourg as well as in semi-staged performances in Paris, Brussels and Lisbon, the title role in Don Giovanni at the Innsbrucker Festwochen der alten Musik, Baden-Baden, Komische Oper Berlin, Norwegian National Opera and in concert performances in Paris, Brussels and Cologne, Giove in Cavalli’s La Calisto at Théâtre de La Monnaie in Brussels, Mr. Flint in Billy Bud at Opera Bilbao, Ramiro in Ravel's L'heure espagnole at the Edinburgh International Festival, Tobit in Haydn’s Il ritorno di Tobia in Rome and Valens in Handel’s Theodora in Cuenca. He has also sung Papageno in The Magic Flute, Schaunard in La Bohème, Plutone and Pastore 4 in Monteverdi’s L’Orfeo and a gala with arias by Mozart at the Norwegian National Opera, Leporello in Don Giovanni and King Theseus in Britten's A Midsummer Night's Dream at the Royal Danish Opera, Adonis in John Blow’s Venus and Adonis at the Flanders Festival Bruges, and Valens in Handel’s Theodora in Cologne and in Ambronay.
Johannes Weisser is a much sought after concert, oratorio and singer and he regularly appears in concert venues and festivals throughout Europe. He has a considerable repertoire that spans music from the early 17th Century works of Monteverdi up to 20th Century works of Weill and Britten. He is an exceptionally communicative “Lied”-singer. His concerts have attracted much attention and have been highly praised, notably the concerts with the pianist Leif Ove Andsnes.
He has worked with conductors such as Rinaldo Alessandrini, Alfredo Bernardini, Fabio Biondi, Iona Brown, Francesco Corti, Alan Curtis, Ottavio Dantone, Stéphane Denève, Laurence Equilbey, Adam Fischer, Philippe Herreweghe, René Jacobs, Tõnu Kaljuste, Fredrik Malmberg, Juanjo Mena, Lars Ulrik Mortensen, Andris Nelsons, Andrew Parrott, Kirill Petrenko, George Petrou, Daniel Reuss, Christophe Rousset, Kwame Ryan, Andreas Spering, Christoph Spering, Andrew Wilder and Lothar Zagrosek.
Engagements in 2011 included Garzia in Attilio Ariosti’s La Fede nei tradimenti in Vienna, Siena and Montpellier, Arsitobolo in Handel’s Berenice at Theater an der Wien, Agamemnon in Gluck’s Iphigénie en Aulide in Athens, Achilla in Giulio Cesare at Theater an der Wien as well as at Théâtre des Champs-Elysées, Paris, Ramiro in Ravel's L'heure espagnole with Birmingham Symphony Orchestra, Haydn’s Die Schöpfung in Verona, arias by Mozart with the Norwegian Chamber Orchestra, Bach’s St. John Passion with Oslo Philharmonic Orchestra, Mahler’s Kindertotenlieder in Hasselt (Belgium), Bach’s Mass in B minor in Leipzig and Zürich, Bach’s Actus Tragicus in Tromsoe and Handel’s Messiah in Oslo as well as in Trondheim. He also participated in a CD recording of bel-canto repertoire (Rossini and others) with the conductor Fabio Biondi.
2012 has started with Licomede in Handel’s Deidemia at Theater an der Wien as well as in Braunschweig.
Johannes has recorded the title role in Don Giovanni, Telemann’s Brockes Passion, and Haydn’s Die Schöpfung with René Jacobs for Harmonia Mundi, Haydn’s Applausus with Andreas Spering (Capriccio), Achilla in Giulio Cesare and Licaone in Handel’s Giove in Argo with Alan Curtis (both to be released), a CD with songs by Grieg for Simax and Bathsheba in Staale Kleiberg’s David and Bathsheba for 2L.
FORTHCOMING
Mozart - Così fan tutte / Guglielmo - Dijon
Christophe Rousset, conductor
Haydn - Die Schöpfung - Rennes
Olari Elts, conductor / Orchestre de Bretagne
Haydn - Die Schöpfung - Paris
Laurence Equilbey, conductor / Akademie für Alte Musik Berlin
Haydn - Die Schöpfung - Oslo
Grethe Pedersen, conductor
Cavalieri - La rappresentazione di anima / Corpo - Staatsoper Berlin
René Jacobs, conductor
Mozart - Don Giovanni / Don Giovanni - Copenhagen
Henrik Schäfer, conductor
Bach - St. Matthew Passion / Christ - Brussels, Rheingau + recording
René Jacobs, conductor / Akademie für Alte Musik Berlin
Grieg - Peer Gynt / Peer Gynt - Cologne, Essen, Dortmund
Marc Minkowski, conductor / Mahler Chamber Orchestra
Orff - Carmina Burana - Oslo
Marc Soustrot, conductor / Oslo Philharmonic Orchestra
Grieg - Peer Gynt / Peer Gynt - London
Marc Minkowski, conductor / BBC Symphony Orchestra
DONIZETTI - Don Pasquale / Malatesta - Norwegian National Opera
NN, conductor
Handel - Hercules / Hercules - Moscow
Christopher Moulds, conductor
BRUCKNER - Mass in F minor - Paris
Paavo Järvi, conductor / Orchestre de Paris
Grieg - Peer Gynt / Peer Gynt - Gothenburg
Eivind Gullberg Jensen, conductor / Gothenburg Symphony Orchestra
Handel - Arianna in Creta / Minos - Concert tour + recording
Alan Curtis, conductor / Il Complesso Barocco
Bach - St. John's Passion - Paris
Laurence Equilbey, conductor
Handel - Agrippina / Pallante - Concert tour + recording
Alan Curtis, conductor / Il Complesso Barocco
Bach - Christmas Oratorio - Leipzig
Trevor Pinnock, conductor / Gewandhaus Orchestra
Beethoven - Christus am Ölbegre / Petrus - St. Denis
Jerémie Rhorer, conductor
Grieg - Peer Gynt / Peer Gynt - Hannover
Eivind Gullberg Jensen, conductor / NDR Symphony Orchestra
Orff - Carmina Burana - Paris
Paavo Järvi, conductor / Orchestre de Paris
BACH - Mass in B minor - Concert tour
René Jacobs, conductor
February 2012