Wolfgang Holzmair - baritone
"Mr. Holzmair gave...subtly shaped, powerful readings. But he was at his most affecting in a group of undated songs by Ilse Weber, an author of children’s books and an amateur composer who wrote with disarming directness." Terezin/92nd St Y, New York Times, January 2012
"Baritone Wolfgang Holzmair was altogether more effective, intense in his rapture and effective in his resignation". Zemlinsky Lyric Symphony/RTÉ NSO, Irish Times, November 2011
"..no other singer of German song at the moment communicates so intently the rhythm and meaning of the poems." Financial Times, December 2010
"He was particularly affecting in the brighter “Frühlingsmorgen” (“Spring Morning”), and his graceful, soft-edged reading of the “Phantasie” had an irresistible melting quality. But Mahler is at his most gripping — and offers a singer the greatest expressive opportunities — in songs of soul-wrenching conflict or pained resignation. Not surprisingly, Mr. Holzmair was incomparable in the transcendent “Urlicht” (“Primal Light”) and in the intensely focused performance of “Ich Bin der Welt Abhanden Gekommen” that closed the program." New York Times, November 2010
“Wolfgang Holzmair made much more of Faninal than one ordinarily sees (and hears), giving the character plenty of vocal and dramatic heft.” The Seattle Times, August 2006
"Holzmair, with his warm amber sound, crystal-clear diction and almost conversationally natural way with phrasing, is the most engaging of lieder singers.” Washington Post, December 2005
"Wolfgang Holzmair is a thoroughly communicative singer, and the intimate layout of the Austrian Cultural Forum's concert hall made it possible for him to convey the emotional depth and subtleties of his program on Tuesday evening."
New York Times, November 2005
”There’s not much to be said, really, about Holzmair and Cooper’s Wolf, save that it showed two performers at the peak of their art, with that essential but all-too-rare balance of independence and co-operation between keyboard and voice, and working in repertoire that finds an utterly inimitable composer at a similar peak.” The Irish Times, December 2004
”The Austrian baritone Wolfgang Holzmair provided ample proof of his Mahler skills, boasting a dark and clear timbre and delightful ease of tone.”
Lieder eines fahrenden Gesellen Munich Philharmonic Orchestra/Kreizberg
Münchner Merkur, November 2004
”I last heard Mr. Holzmair in an all-Wolf recital, and its was interesting to see how differently he approached Brahms, striding out robustly on stage and launching into the first song with an air of healthy insouciance, where his Wolf, in a smaller hall, was more intimate and more careful. Not that there was anything calculated in this: Mr. Holzmair, on the contrary, seems to have one of the most instinctive approaches to lieder of anyone today, presenting the songs with the ease and clarity of conversation.”
The New York Times, October 2004
”How to explain the magic of a lieder recital? Baritone Wolfgang Holzmair filled an evening with this very special genre of music…. It was truly a memorable, all-absorbing event, and Holzmair’s pianist, Russell Ryan, played no small part.” The Washington Post, October 2004
“..the Austrian baritone, Wolfgang Holzmair, whose intimate and direct singing seems the kind of thing you might have heard in a 19th century drawing room: communicative, straightforward, delicately nuanced.” Orchestra of St Luke’s/Norrington, New York Times, April 2004
“It was easy to pinpoint telling individual nuances in Holamzir’s singing…but more impressive was his shaping, his carefully modulated shading, of the whole.” Winterreise with Imogen Cooper/Queen Elizabeth Hall, London Evening Standard June 2003
“Wolfgang Holzmair and Imogen Cooper have lived with Winterreise for most of their perofrmaning lives; and now their individual and joint journeys have reached an extraordinary point.” Winterreise with Imogen Cooper/Queen Elizabeth Hall, London The Times June 2003