Following his debut at the Staatsoper Unter den Linden as Michael in G. F. Haas’ opera Thomas in June 2023, Swiss countertenor Elmar Hauser started his career with a series of significant house and role debuts. He appeared at the Zurich Opera House in A Midsummer Night’s Dream, as Hanno Buddenbrook in the world premiere of Ludger Vollmer’s Buddenbrooks at Theater Kiel, and as the Sorceress/Spirit in Dido and Aeneas at Theater Bern.
In 2025, he made highly acclaimed debuts at Oper Frankfurt as Ruggiero in Alcina and at Munich’s Prinzregententheater as Angel 1 / The Boy in George Benjamin’s Written on Skin.
Other highlights of the past season include new productions of Alcina and Orlando with Accademia Bizantina at the Ravenna Festival under the musical direction of Ottavio Dantone, a new production of J. C. Bach’s Zanaida with the Kammerakademie Potsdam conducted by Johanna Soller, numerous concerts in Winterthur and Schaffhausen, and his debut with the Wiener Symphoniker at Vienna’s Musikverein.
Winner of the 2024 Concorso Lirico di Portofino
The 2026/27 season takes Elmar Hauser to the Landestheater Coburg for a new production of Caligari and back to his hometown for Die Seele muss vom Reittier steigen with the Musikkollegium Winterthur under the baton of Roberto González-Monjas, before he returns to Oper Frankfurt for the revival of Alcina. He will also be heard as Angel 1 / The Boy in a concert performance of Written on Skin with the Deutsche Radio Philharmonie in Saarbrücken, conducted by the composer, George Benjamin.
Elmar Hauser completed his bachelor’s degree at the Zurich University of the Arts in 2021 under Werner Güra with distinction, followed by a master’s degree at the Theaterakademie August Everding in 2023 in the vocal classes of Christiane Iven and Sabine Lahm. He was a scholarship recipient of the Friedl-Wald Foundation, the Johann-Adolph-Hasse-Gesellschaft Munich, and Yehudi Menuhin Live Music Now Munich.
In August 2024, Elmar Hauser won the first prize in the Concorso Lirico Internazionale di Portofino (CLIP competition) in Portofino.
