Thomas Ebenstein

— Elisa Engler
Das Opernglas (July–August 2024)

“It was Thomas Ebenstein who garnered the most applause at the premiere for his impassioned acting and stand-out vocal performance as the Mime.”
— Michel Schaer
Die Stimme der Kritik (15 April 2024)

“Thomas Ebenstein performs the Mime with a powerful […] tenor with an impeccable heroic attack.”
— Jan Kobrot
Online Merker (29 April 2024)

Thomas Ebenstein was born in Carinthia/Austria and received his vocal training at the Vienna University of Music and Performing Arts with Helena Łazarska and in the Lied class of KS Robert Holl. In 2001 he was a prize-winner at the International Dvořák Competition in Karlovy Vary (Czech Republic); in 2003 he won the Musica Juventutis Competition of the Vienna Konzerthaus, in 2005 the International Heinrich Strecker Competition in Baden near Vienna and in 2007 he was a scholarship holder of the Richard Wagner Scholarship Foundation for the Bayreuth Festival.

From 2003 to 2012, Thomas Ebenstein was a member of the ensemble of the Komische Oper Berlin, where he appeared in a variety of roles, including Don Ottavio in Mozart’s Don Giovanni, Pedrillo in Die Entführung aus dem Serail, Jaquino in Beethoven’s Fidelio, Andrès/Cochenille/Frantz/Pitichinaccio in Offenbach’s Les Contes d’Hoffmann, David in Wagner’s Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg, Narraboth in Strauss’ Salome, Valzacchi in Der Rosenkavalier and Truffaldino in Prokofiev’s The Love for Three Oranges, and many more.

Thomas Ebenstein has been a member of the Vienna State Opera ensemble since the 2012/13 season and has since appeared in a wide range of repertoire, including most recently as the Dance Master in Ariadne auf Naxos, The Gingerbread Witch in Hänsel und Gretel and Andrès/Cochenille/Frantz/Pitichinaccio in Les Contes d’Hoffmann.

Last season, he made a highly acclaimed house and role debut at the Opéra de Lyon as Hauptmann in Berg’s Wozzeck. At the Metropolitan Opera in New York, he recently appeared as Monostatos in Simon McBurney’s production of Mozart’s Die Zauberflöte. In a new production of Wagner’s Siegfried, directed by Nicholas Carter and staged by Ewelina Marciniak, Thomas Ebenstein also made his successful house debut as Mime at the Bühnen Bern, a role he also performed at the Dresden Music Festival under the direction of Kent Nagano.

In the 2025/26 season, Thomas Ebenstein will appear as the Captain in Wozzeck in several concert performances with the Brazilian São Paulo Symphony Orchestra conducted by Thierry Fischer before embodying the role in a new production staged by Evgeny Titov at Oper Graz. Under James Gaffigan, he will return to the Komische Oper Berlin with the role of The Gingerbread Witch in Hänsel und Gretel. With the WDR Symphony Orchestra under the direction of its chief conductor Cristian Măcelaru, he will appear in concert performances of Richard Strauss’ Salome in Cologne and at the Enescu Festival in Bucharest, while at the Spring Festival in Tokyo he will take to the stage of the Tokyo Bunka Kaikan as Klaus‑Narr in Schönberg’s Gurre‑Lieder and as Steuermann in Wagner’s Der fliegende Holländer.

Reprising the role of Mime from last season, he performs this season at Lucerne’s KKL. He will continue to perform at the Vienna State Opera during a guest appearance in Japan as Valzacchi in Richard Strauss’ Der Rosenkavalier, while at the opera house itself he will sing the First Jew in Salome and Dr Cajus in Falstaff.

To date, guest engagements have taken the tenor to Milan’s La Scala, the Bavarian State Opera, Berlin State Opera, Semperoper Dresden, Hamburg State Opera, Festspielhaus Baden‑Baden, Théâtre des Champs‑Élysées, Grand Théâtre de Genève, Theater an der Wien; Carnegie Hall, the Philharmonie Berlin, Kölner Philharmonie, Konzerthaus Dortmund, Laeiszhalle Hamburg, Concertgebouw Amsterdam, Auditorium di Milano, and Wiener Musikverein & Konzerthaus. On the festival scene, he has performed at the Ruhrtriennale Bochum, Schleswig‑Holstein Musik Festival, Dresden Music Festival, Wiener Festwochen, Salzburg Easter and Summer Festival, the Verbier Festival, Lucerne Festival, Bergen International Festival and Hong Kong Arts Festival.

During this time, Thomas Ebenstein has worked with conductors such as Thomas Adès, Alain Altinoglu, Bertrand de Billy, Semyon Bychkov, Riccardo Chailly, Christoph Eschenbach, Adam Fischer, Edward Gardner, Daniele Gatti, Valery Gergiev, Pablo Heras‑Casado, Jakub Hrůša, Marek Janowski, Philippe Jordan, Zubin Mehta, Ingo Metzmacher, Kent Nagano, Andris Nelsons, Yannick Nézet‑Séguin, Kirill Petrenko, Sir Simon Rattle, Christian Thielemann and Franz Welser‑Möst, as well as with directors such as Calixto Bieito, Robert Carsen, Stefan Herheim, Andreas Homoki, Barrie Kosky, La Fura dels Baus, Damiano Michieletto, Simon Stone, Dmitri Tcherniakov and Mariusz Treliński.

Key roles in his repertoire include the Dance Master in Ariadne auf Naxos, the Steuermann in Der fliegende Holländer, David in Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg, Mime in Das Rheingold and Siegfried, the Schreiber in Mussorgsky’s Khovanshchina, Prince Vasily Ivanovich Shuiski in Boris Godunov, a Scoundrel in Shostakovich’s Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk, Truffaldino in Prokofiev’s The Love for Three Oranges, the Captain in Berg’s Wozzeck, Bob Boles in Peter Grimes, Caliban in Thomas Adès’ The Tempest and Alfred in Die Fledermaus.

In addition to opera, the Austrian tenor has performed in concerts at the Vienna Musikverein, the Konzerthaus Vienna, the Konzerthaus Klagenfurt, the Festspielhaus St. Pölten, the Carinthian Summer, the Berlin Philharmonie, the Cologne Philharmonie, the Dortmund Konzerthaus, the Laeiszhalle Hamburg, the Schleswig‑Holstein Music Festival, the Dresden Music Festival, the Dresden Philharmonie, the Verbier Festival, the Lucerne Festival, the KKL Lucerne, Carnegie Hall New York, the NTR ZaterdagMatinee in the Concertgebouw Amsterdam, the De Doelen Rotterdam, the Auditorium di Milano, the Filharmonia Karola Szymanowskiego in Kraków and the Filharmonia Pomorska in Bydgoszcz.

Thomas Ebenstein is equally devoted to the Lied genre (collaborating with pianists Charles Spencer, David Lutz and Sarah Tsyman) and sacred vocal music. His debut album was released by Capriccio (Première Portraits) with songs by Richard Strauss, Schönberg, Zemlinsky and Korngold.