Michael Volle is to conclude the fourth season of the Stars' Recitals with Piano series with songs and ballads by outstanding composers of 19th-century German Romanticism. The internationally renowned German baritone is accompanied by the equally acclaimed pianist Helmut Deutsch at what promises to be a memorable concert on 3 May 2026, at the Hungarian State Opera.
At his first recital at the opera house, Michael Volle, one of the most outstanding dramatic baritones of our time, presents an exceptionally varied programme. Alongside his successes on the world’s leading opera stages from Bayreuth to the Metropolitan Opera, Volle is also an exceptional interpreter of the song repertoire. His performances are distinguished by a sensitivity to text, finely nuanced expression, and an almost actor-like presence, qualities that Budapest audiences have already experienced.
The first half of the programme offers two contrasting faces of Franz Schubert. In his setting of Schiller’s ballad Der Taucher (The Diver), the young composer already demonstrates a remarkable dramatic instinct. This is followed by three songs set to texts by Pietro Metastasio, the influential 18th-century opera librettist, which blend the intimate genre of the lied with the world of opera arias and bel canto. These playful, ironic, and lyrical pieces provide a subtle counterbalance to the drama of Der Taucher.
After the interval, three ballads by Carl Loewe, a master of the 19th-century Romantic ballad, are featured. Settings of poems by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (Erlkönig), Heinrich Heine (Der gefangene Admiral), and Ludwig Uhland (Odins Meeresritt) present further dramatic narratives, whose emotional richness offers extraordinary opportunities for characterization.
The recitalconcludes with songs by Franz Liszt, also largely inspired by Goethe and Heine, drawing on the world of German Romantic poetry. These works lead the audience through a wide emotional spectrum from a vision on the banks of the Rhine, through bitter irony, to a search for inner peace.
In the works of Schubert, Loewe, and Liszt, the piano is an equal partner to the voice. At the 3 May concert, the piano part will be performed by Helmut Deutsch, one of the most sought-after accompanists in the world, who regularly appears at major opera houses and concert halls. In addition to his long-standing collaboration with Michael Volle, he is also a regular partner of Diana Damrau and Jonas Kaufmann, the latter of whom he also taught during his more than three-decade teaching career.
Photos by Carsten Sander, Shirley Suarez
