German baritone Gerrit Illenberger made his debut at the Bavarian State Opera as Melisso (Alcina) under Stefano Montanari as part of the Munich Opera Festival 2026. From 2023 to 2025, he was a member of the Junges Ensemble of the Semperoper Dresden, where his roles included Schaunard (La Bohème). A regular guest at the Heidenheim Opera Festival, he works closely with Marcus Bosch, under whose direction he has performed Rodrigo (Don Carlo) and Sharpless (Madama Butterfly). He has also appeared under Kirill Petrenko at the Baden-Baden Easter Festival and at the Berliner Philharmonie as Wächter (Die Frau ohne Schatten). Further guest engagements have taken him as Reinmar (Tannhäuser) to the Teatro di Modena, as Oronte (Floridante) to the Margravial Opera House Bayreuth, as Conte Almaviva (Le nozze di Figaro) to the Cuvilliés Theatre Munich, and as Don Giovanni to the Staatsschauspiel Dresden. His roles already performed also include Papageno and Sprecher (Die Zauberflöte), Graf von Eberbach (Der Wildschütz), and Gianni Schicchi.

Alongside his work as an opera singer, he is also in demand as a concert soloist. His wide-ranging repertoire encompasses 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. Recent highlights include his debuts at the Elbphilharmonie Hamburg with Schmidt’s Das Buch mit sieben Siegeln under Manfred Honeck and at the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam with Bach’s Mass in B minor under Laurence Equilbey. His particular affinity for Early Music is reflected in his regular collaborations with harpsichordist and conductor Johanna Soller. As a Lied interpreter, he works with pianists such as Gerold Huber and Malcolm Martineau and has appeared at the Heidelberger Frühling, the Pierre Boulez Saal in Berlin, and the Palau de la Música Catalana in Barcelona.

Before devoting himself fully to music, Gerrit Illenberger completed a bachelor’s degree in Engineering Science and a master’s in Aerospace at the Technical University of Munich. He received private vocal training from Hartmut Elbert before continuing his studies with KS Prof. Andreas Schmidt at the University of Music and Theatre Munich, where he also attended Christian Gerhaher’s Lied class. As part of the Heidelberg Lied Academy, he received formative impulses from Thomas Hampson.

Gerrit Illenberger won prizes at the August Everding Music Competition and was awarded the Leonhard and Ida Wolf Memorial Prize for Music from the City of Munich as well as the Max Liebhaber Prize from the City of Heidenheim. He was also a scholarship recipient of the Bavarian Choir Academy and received support from Yehudi Menuhin Live Music Now, as well as the Deutschlandstipendium.