Biography

The renowned bass Tareq Nazmi studied at the Hochschule für Musik und Theater in Munich with Edith Wiens and Christian Gerhaher and privately with Hartmut Elbert. He began his career in the Munich Opera Studio and later became a member of the ensemble of the Bavarian State Opera.

His expressive portrayals of roles have made him a sought-after performer on the opera stage. Thus, Tareq Nazmi can also be experienced at this year's Salzburg Summer Festival, for the first time with Italian repertoire as Banco in Verdi's Macbeth (directed by Krzystof Warlikowski), before making another guest appearance at the Salzach in season 2023/24: as Alvise in La Gioconda at the Easter Festival under the musical direction of Antonio Pappano. Following an invitation of Franz Welser-Möst, he will be heard in Cleveland as Sarastro in Mozart's Zauberflöte and later at the Munich Opera Festival as Ferrando in Verdi's Il Trovatore and as Gurnemanz in Wagner's Parsifal in his hometown.

In concert, he will perform Beethoven's 9th Symphony under the baton of Manfred Honeck at the Gewandhaus Leipzig, the Missa solemnis under Herbert Blomstedt in Stockholm, with the Munich Philharmonic under Philippe Herreweghe, and with the Berlin Radio Symphony Orchestra under the baton of Vladimir Jurowski, among others. At the Orchestre de Paris, he will take on the bass part in Mahler's 8th Symphony for the first time conducted by Daniel Harding.

Among the outstanding engagements of the past seasons is his Sarastro at the 2022 Salzburg Festival, following his international breakthrough in the role of the Heerrufer in 2021. Furthermore, his debut as Gurnemanz in Wagner's Parsifal at the Grand Théâtre de Genève as well as his debut at the Vienna State Opera as König Heinrich in Wagner's Lohengrin. His repertoire also includes numerous roles in the bass literature such as Filippo II in Verdi's Don Carlo, Zaccaria (Nabucco), Hunding (Die Walküre), König Marke (Tristan und Isolde) is in planning. He was the ensemble bass in Verdi's Messa da Requiem with the Zurich Tonhalle Orchestra under John Eliot Gardiner, on tour under the musical direction of Teodor Currentzis and with the Berlin Philharmonic under Daniel Barenboim, and in Beethoven's Missa solemnis in Munich under Kirill Petrenko.

In demand as a concert soloist, Tareq Nazmi has mastered a broad repertoire that includes works from Bach to Beethoven, from Haydn to Brahms, and from Mozart to Dvořák. He has worked with renowned orchestras such as the Orchestre de Paris under the baton of Daniel Harding, the Orquestra Gulbenkian under Alain Altinoglu, the WDR Symphony Orchestra under Jukka-Pekka Saraste, the Deutsches Symphonieorchester Berlin and the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra under Manfred Honeck, and the Balthasar Neumann Choir and Ensemble under Thomas Hengelbrock.

As a lied singer, Tareq Nazmi was most recently heard together with Gerold Huber at the Schubertiade Hohenems, in Munich, Cologne and at London's Wigmore Hall. In spring 2023 he performed Schubert's Winterreise in Tokyo.