Gerrit Illenberger makes his debut at the Bavarian State Opera in the 2025/26 season as Melisso in a new production of Handel’s »Alcina«. From 2023 to 2025, the baritone was a member of the Young Artist Program at the Semperoper Dresden, where he appeared, among others, as Schaunard (»La Bohème«) and Fiorello (»Il barbiere di Siviglia«). In the 2022/23 season, he made his debut as Rodrigo (»Don Carlo«) at the Heidenheim Opera Festival and performed under Kirill Petrenko at the Festspielhaus Baden-Baden as well as at the Berlin Philharmonie in »Die Frau ohne Schatten«. In addition, he appeared as Reinmar (»Tannhäuser«) at the Teatro di Modena and as Conte Almaviva (»Le nozze di Figaro«) at the Cuvilliés Theatre in Munich. His repertoire also includes Papageno and Sprecher (»Die Zauberflöte«), Graf von Eberbach (»Der Wildschütz«), Sharpless (»Madama Butterfly«), and the title role in »Gianni Schicchi«.

In addition to his work as an opera singer, he is in demand as a concert soloist: His wide-ranging repertoire includes standard works such as Bach’s St Matthew Passion and Mendelssohn’s Elijah, as well as rarely performed oratorios such as Handel’s Occasional Oratorio and Bruch’s Moses. As a lieder interpreter, he has performed alongside renowned pianists such as Gerold Huber or Malcolm Martineau, including appearances at the Heidelberger Frühling and the Pierre Boulez Saal in Berlin. The recipient of the August Everding Music Competition has also been awarded the Leonhard and Ida Wolf Memorial Prize for Music of the City of Munich as well as the Max Liebhaber Prize of the City of Heidenheim. In addition to support from Yehudi Menuhin Live Music Now, he was awarded the Deutschlandstipendium and was a scholarship holder of the Bavarian Choir Academy as well as the Heidelberger Frühling Lied Academy.

Before dedicating himself fully to music, Gerrit Illenberger completed a bachelor’s degree in Engineering Science and a master’s degree in Aerospace at the Technical University of Munich. At the same time, he began his vocal training, initially privately with Hartmut Elbert. He later studied with KS Prof. Andreas Schmidt at the University of Music and Performing Arts Munich, where he also attended Christian Gerhaher’s lieder class. Masterclasses, including with Thomas Hampson, complete his training.