The German-born baritone will make his debut at the Bavarian State Opera in a new production of Handel’s »Alcina« as Melisso in the 2025/26 season. From 2023 to 2025 he took part in the Young Artist Program at the Semperoper Dresden, where he played roles such as Schaunard (»La Bohème«) and Fiorello (»Il barbiere di Siviglia«). In 2022/23, he made his debut as Rodrigo (»Don Carlo«) at the Heidenheim Opera Festival and sang under Kirill Petrenko at the Festspielhaus Baden-Baden and in the Berlin Philharmonie in »Die Frau ohne Schatten«. He has also made guest appearances as Reinmar (»Tannhäuser«) at the Teatro di Modena and as Conte Almaviva (»Le nozze di Figaro«) at the Cuvilliés Theater in Munich. Other roles he has already sung include 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 also 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 Lied interpreter, he has repeatedly performed alongside renowned pianists such as Gerold Huber and Malcom Martineau at the Heidelberger Frühling and the Pierre Boulez Saal in Berlin.

Gerrit Illenberger received the Leonhard and Ida Wolf Memorial Prize for Music from the City of Munich and the Max Liebhaber Prize from the City of Heidenheim. He also won prizes at the August Everding Music Competition and was a finalist in the German National Singing Competition. In addition to his support from Yehudi Menuhin Live Music Now, he received the Deutschlandstipendium and was a scholarship holder of the Bavarian Choir Academy and the Heidelberger Frühling Liedakademie. Before devoting himself fully to music, he completed a bachelor’s degree in Engineering Science and a master’s degree in Aerospace at the Technical University of Munich. He received his vocal training with Hartmut Elbert, also in Munich, and with KS Prof. Andreas Schmidt at the University of Music and Performing Arts, where he also attended Christian Gerhaher’s Lied class. Master classes such as with Thomas Hampson complete his studies.