Julian Prégardien is a leading figure among the next generation of classical vocal artists, equally at home in the worlds of lied, concert and opera. His artistic work is shaped by a deep engagement with language, storytelling and curiosity, alongside an increasing commitment to the future of Lied as curator, educator and artistic director. Originally from Frankfurt, he received his earliest musical training as a chorister in the Limburg Cathedral choirs. Following studies in Freiburg and time with the Académie du Festival d’Aix-en-Provence, he was a member of the Frankfurt Opera ensemble from 2009 to 2013, while simultaneously developing an international concert career.
On the operatic stage, Julian Prégardien has appeared at the Festival d’Aix-en-Provence, the Salzburg Festival, the Vienna State Opera, the Bavarian State Opera, the Berlin State Opera, the Opéra Comique in Paris and the Hamburg State Opera. Notable roles include Narraboth in Richard Strauss’ Salome under Franz Welser-Möst, Don Ottavio (Don Giovanni) in Salzburg, and Tamino (Die Zauberflöte) at the Vienna State Opera and in Cleveland. In the 2025/26 season he returned to Don Ottavio and sang Oronte (Alcina) in a new production at the Bavarian State Opera, while at the Schwetzingen Festival he performed the title role in Monteverdi’s L’Orfeo. Highlights of the 2026/27 season include Tamino in a new production conducted and directed by Iván Fischer with the Budapest Festival Orchestra in Budapest, Vicenza and Baden-Baden, as well as a return to the Bavarian State Opera in the same role.
Renowned internationally for the intelligence, sensitivity and immediacy of his interpretations, Julian Prégardien is especially acclaimed as one of the leading Evangelists of our time in the Passions of Johann Sebastian Bach. Highlights include the St Matthew Passion with the Vienna Philharmonic under Franz Welser-Möst, the St John Passion with the Gewandhausorchester under Andreas Reize, and numerous acclaimed collaborations with Ensemble Pygmalion and Raphaël Pichon in concert and on disc. A notable highlight of the 2025/26 season was his residency at the Vienna Konzerthaus, featuring his own concert series, “Schubert for everyone”, alongside appearances with the Vienna Symphony Orchestra and Vienna Radio Symphony Orchestra. He also returned to the stage with his father Christoph Prégardien for recitals and concerts across Germany, including collaborations with the Freiburg Baroque Orchestra and Kristian Bezuidenhout, and appeared with the Gewandhaus Orchestra and Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra under Franz Welser-Möst.
Julian Prégardien’s 2026/27 season features Mozart’s Requiem with the Vienna Symphony, Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony with the Berlin Radio Symphony Orchestra and with the Balthasar Neumann Choir and Orchestra, whom he also joins for Schumann’s Szenen aus Goethes Faust under Thomas Hengelbrock. He performs Beethoven’s Missa Solemnis with the Munich Philharmonic under Klaus Mäkelä, as well as with The Cleveland Orchestra at Severance Hall and Carnegie Hall under the baton of Franz Welser-Möst. As the Evangelist in Bach’s St Matthew Passion, he joins the Gewandhaus Orchestra under Andreas Reize on tour in Asia during the work’s 300th anniversary year. Together with the Salzburg Camerata, where he has been artistic partner since 2026, he continues his multi-year “Kosmos Schubert” project, exploring Schubert’s vocal, chamber and symphonic works ahead of the composer’s bicentenary in 2028.
On the recital stage, he continues his collaboration with Sir András Schiff in a duo concert with Julia Kleiter at the Vienna Musikverein and the Elbphilharmonie, alongside solo and quartet programmes at the Pierre Boulez Saal in Berlin. He takes Schubert’s Winterreise to La Chaux-de-Fonds, Seville and Madrid, performs all three Schubert song cycles in Leipzig, and returns to the Schubertiade in Hohenems and Schwarzenberg. At the Vienna Konzerthaus, he continues his series “Schubert for everyone”, while at the Lied Basel festival he appears as duo-in-residence alongside pianist Saskia Giorgini for concerts and masterclasses with the next generation of Lied singers. His discography includes Schubert’s Winterreise and Schwanengesang, and Schumann’s Dichterliebe (on Alpha Classics). An exclusive artist with Harmonia Mundi, his latest recording of Schubert’s Die Schöne Müllerin with Kristian Bezuidenhout was released in August 2024.
Beyond his career as a singer, Julian Prégardien has become an important curator, educator and advocate for Lied culture in the German-speaking world. In 2024, inspired by his project performing Schubert’s Die Schöne Müllerin throughout Vienna the previous autumn, he co-founded the Liedstadt Festival, which welcomed more than 7,500 guests, 130 artists and over 100 events during its first edition in Hamburg. Following its success, Liedstadt has since expanded to Limburg, Salzburg, Leipzig, Berlin, Weimar and Düsseldorf. In 2026 he was appointed Artistic Director of the Heidelberg Liedzentrum and Professor of Oratorio at the Hochschule für Musik und Theater, where he had taught since 2017. A member of the Schumann Network, he was Artistic Director of the Brentano Academy in Aschaffenburg until 2024.
As of June 2026
