The Austrian baritone, Matthias Helm, studied solo singing with Rotraud Hansmann and has completed Lied and oratorio with Robert Holl at the Universität für Musik und darst. Kunst Wien (Class of 2002). In addition, he attended master-classes with Wolfgang Holzmair, Rudolf Piernay, Hartmut Höll and Rudolf Janssen. He was awarded the first prize of the European Music Prize for Youth 2000. In the same year he won the Petyrek-Lang-Liedwettbewerb and achieved 2nd prize at the Gradus ad Parnassum-championship in 1999.
As a concert singer, the young baritone has been reconized for his performance of great oratorios and passions of J.S. Bach, George Frideric Handel, Felix Mendelssohn or C. Orff, F. Martin and Paul Hindemith. He has co-operated with orchestras and ensembles such as L'Orfeo Barockorchester (Director: Michi Gaigg), Karlsruher Barockorchester, Wiener Akademie or Capella Leopoldina. One of the singer’s favourite specialities is song cycle, especially by Schubert and Robert Schumann, and with that he has become a welcome guest of different festivals and concert houses like Styriarte, Haydn-Festspiele Eisenstadt, Konzerthaus Wien, Wiener Musikverein, Wiener Kammeroper, Konzerthaus St. Pölten, Teatro Monumental Madrid, Philharmonie Luxemburg, etc.
His rich variety of repertoire contains works from the Renaissance as well as music of the 21st century. As a result, he’s performed convincingly manifold characters from the works of H. Purcell, Georg Philipp Telemann or W.A. Mozart and in operettas of E. Kalman or Strauß to the more contemporary compositions of J. Weir or E.L. Leitner. On his tours Matthias Helm has travelled throughout Europe, South Korea and Singapore. Hae currently lives in Wels, Upper Austria. In 2010 he married Eva Helm. |