Biography
Since graduating from the Franz Liszt Academy of Music in Budapest, Gábor Bretz’s regular performances at the Hungarian State Opera have included the title-roles in Mefistofele and Le Nozze di Figaro, Leporello and the title-role in Don Giovanni, Banquo Macbeth, Colline La Bohème, Don Basilio Il Barbiere di Siviglia, Escamillo Carmen, Gurnemanz Parsifal, Zaccaria Nabucco, Orestes Elektra, Marcel Les Huguenots, Fiesco Simon Boccanegra and Pogner Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg, in addition to Landgraf Tannhauser at the Wagner Festival under Adam Fischer and for the Palace of Arts in Budapest.
Other notable appearances include the title role Der fliegende Holländer at the Passionstheater; Ferrando Il Trovatore at the Royal Opera House; Escamillo Carmen at the Bayerische Staatsoper, the Royal Opera House, the Metropolitan Opera, New York, the New National Theatre in Tokyo and the Hamburg State Opera; Colline La Bohème at the Royal Opera House; Shaklovity Khovanshchina at Dutch National Opera; Phillipe II Don Carlos at the Hamburg State Opera, in a Peter Konwitschny production; Scarpia Tosca at the Teatro Comunale di Bologna; a staged Verdi Requiem at the Hamburg State Opera; King Heinrich Lohengrin at La Monnaie, Brussels; Jochanaan Salome at the Salzburg Festival and numerous performances in the title role of Bluebeard’s Castle with The Berlin Philharmonic, Helsinki Philharmonic Orchestra, the Bayerische Rundfunk Orchestra, Oregon Symphony Orchestra, London Symphony Orchestra and the New York Philharmonic under Daniel Barenboim, Gustavo Dudamel, Adam Fischer, Ed Gardner, Daniele Gatti, Valery Gergiev, Daniel Harding, Michele Mariotti and Esa-Pekka Salonen. Gábor Bretz has also worked with other eminent conductors including Alain Altinoglu, Philippe Jordan, Kent Nagano, Simon Rattle, Juraj Valčuha and Omer Meir Wellber.
Gábor Bretz sings regularly in concert. His repertoire includes the major oratories of Bach, Haydn, and Mozart; Beethoven’s Symphony No. 9; Tippett’s A Child of our Time; Berlioz’s L’Enfance du Christ; Verdi’s Requiem; Mahler’s Symphony No. 8 and Handel’s Messiah under Sylvain Cambreling, Carlo Montanaro and Helmuth Rilling.
Latest News
Stellar Reviews for Jakub Hrůša, Brandon Jovanovich and Gábor Bretz in Wagner’s “Lohengrin” at the Royal Opera House
Jakub Hrůša, Brandon Jovanovich and Gábor Bretz win acclaim following their opening night performance in Wagner's Lohengrin currently showing at the Royal Opera House. Brandon takes the title role of "Lohengrin", Gábor Bretz stars as "King Heinrich", and Jakub Hrůša...
Congratulations to our 2020 Gramophone Awards Shortlist artists
Congratulations to our 2020 Gramophone Awards Shortlist artists. The winners will be announced on 6 October in a ceremony streamed on Medici TV and the magazine’s social media channels. Read about each of the nominated album in Gramophone’s special Shortlist digital...
Gábor Bretz To Debut Puccini’s Tosca at Teatro Communale di Bologna
Hungarian bass Gábor Bretz is making his role debut as Baron Scarpia in Puccini’s Tosca at Teatro Communale di Bologna on the 15th of December. Gábor Bretz is internationally renowned for his interpretation of Bluebeard, and is a regular guest artist at many of the...
Reviews
“Gábor Bretz has youth and valor, both physical and vocal, as desired by his director. His voice knows how to be cajoling (act 1), more violent (acts 2), imploring (act 3), hopeless (act 4) and heartbreaking (act 5). These are all the facets of a character mixing theater and real life that this singer manages to render, both by his play of great finesse that a voice modulation technique that can adapt to all situations and his “various characters”. Without being a real deep bass like some Russian singers who played the role, it arrives in a simple and effective way to touch us by interpreting including a very beautiful death”
On Don Quixote
“The devil may not get all the best tunes in Gounod’s Faust, but Gábor Bretz certainly stole the show in this new production at Hungarian State Opera….Bretz dominated the stage, both physically and vocally. His inky black bass was supple and suave and he sang a thrilling “Le veau d’or”, complete with formation wheelchair choreography.”
“His ‘elle ne m’aime pas’ was wonderfully sung, with a good legato and decent pointing of the words. Indeed his French was the best in the cast.”