Biography

The bass-baritone Hanno Müller-Brachmann, who grew up in South Baden and received his musical training early on in the Basel Boys' Choir, studied with Ingeborg Most in Freiburg, Rudolf Piernay in Mannheim and attended Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau's lied class in Berlin.

Daniel Barenboim brought the 27-year-old three-time competition winner to the Berlin State Opera "Unter den Linden" while he was still training, where he was a member of the ensemble for 13 years. Here, Hanno Müller-Brachmann performed the great Mozart roles of his repertoire, as well as Kaspar (Der Freischütz), Amfortas (Parsifal), Escamillo (Carmen), Banquo (Macbeth), Goulaud (Pelléas et Mélisande), Wotan (Das Rheingold) and the Count (Der ferne Klang), and in the world premieres of Elliott Carter's "What next? " and Pascal Dusapin's "Faustus, the last night". In addition to Daniel Barenboim, Michael Gielen, René Jacobs, Sebastian Weigle, Gustavo Dudamel, Pierre Boulez, Sir Simon Rattle and Philippe Jordan have been important partners for him on the podium in Berlin.

Guest appearances have also taken Hanno Müller-Brachmann to the state operas in Hamburg, Vienna and Munich, the "Theater an der Wien", Madrid, Seville and San Francisco. The recording of Mozart's "Die Zauberflöte" in Modena under Claudio Abbado with Hanno Müller-Brachmann in the role of Papageno was released by Deutsche Grammophon and was honoured with a "Gramophone Award" as the opera recording of the year. In Cleveland, he sang "Goulaud" in "Pelléas et Mélisande" and the Music Teacher in "Ariadne auf Naxos" under the direction of Franz Welser-Möst.
Harry Kupfer, Ruth Berghaus, Peter Mussbach, Martin Kusej, Doris Dörrie, Keith Warner and Peter Sellars were influential directors for him.

As a concert singer, the bass-baritone has experienced unforgettable moments in performances with Kurt Masur, Nikolaus Harnoncourt, Herbert Blomstedt, Maxim Emelyanychev, Andris Nelsons, Vladimir Jurowski, Kirill Petrenko, Sir András Schiff and Lorin Maazel. He has worked with Bernhard Haitink for many years, for example with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, the Concertgebouw Orchestra Amsterdam, the Orchestra of La Scala in Milan and the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra, alongside whom he opened the Salzburg Festival in 2014 with Haydn's "Creation", whose recording of Beethoven's "Missa solemnis" won the "Gramophone Award" as choir recording of the year in 2016 and with whom he premiered Wolfgang Rihm's "Requiem-Strophen" under Mariss Jansons in 2017. As a lieder singer, Hanno Müller-Brachmann has performed at London's Wigmore Hall, the Vienna Konzerthaus and at festivals such as the Schubertiade Schwarzenberg, Edinburgh, Hitzacker, Lockenhaus, Mecklenburg-Vorpommern and Schleswig-Holstein.

Recent CD releases include the album "Auf jenen Höh'n" with Mahler's "Kindertotenlieder", Martin's "Jedermann-Monologen" and Brahms' "Vier ernste Gesänge" and Hendrik Heilmann on the piano (DG 2022), a recording of Schubert's "Schwanengesang" and early songs by Carl Maria von Weber with Jan Schultsz on the fortepiano (Panclassics 2021) as well as songs by Johannes Brahms together with Dame Sarah Connolly and Lied pianist Malcolm Martineau (Linn 2024). His recording of songs by Rudi Stephan with Hinrich Alpers on the grand piano (Sony) was awarded the "Opus Klassik" in 2018.
The most recent CD release, the oratorio "Ruth" by Georg Schumann (cpo 2025), was listed as recommendation of the month 7/25 by the specialist magazine "Fono Forum".

Hanno Müller-Brachmann has been a professor of singing at the Karlsruhe University of Music since 2011. He is a juror for international competitions and the German National Academic Foundation and is a strong advocate for the preservation and improvement of musical education in Germany, currently as honorary chairman of the boys' and girls' choir "Cantus Juvenum Karlsruhe".

Highlights of the last season were Mendelssohn's "Walpurgisnacht" in Madrid under Andrés Orozco-Estrada, Beethoven's "Missa solemnis" under Fabio Luisi at La Scala in Milan, Handel's "Messiah" with the Tonhalle Orchestra Zurich under Jan Willem de Vriend and the "Siegfried" production by the Dresden Festival Orchestra and Concerto Köln in Paris, Cologne, Prague and Dresden under Kent Nagano, in which he made his debut as "Fafner". In the 25/26 season, Hanno Müller-Brachmann will demonstrate his versatility in oratorios by Bach in Budapest, Baden-Baden and Bergen, recitals in Freiburg, at the Wolfgang Sawallisch Foundation or in Frankfurt as well as in his role debut as "Rocco" at the Beethoven Festival in Warsaw or on a European tour of the Budapest Festival Orchestra under its founder Iván Fischer with "Wotan's Farewell" from Richard Wagner's "Walküre".