"the way he navigated the song’s transformation, from disappointment to obsession, was so gripping and troublingly real, I heard people all around me exhale afterward, as if Mr. Appl had rendered them breathless." - New York Times

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"Appl is not only a singer of boundless promise, he is already a great artist. Appl is not only a singer of boundless promise, he is already a great artist. This disc shows how versatile he is, with not only great Lieder but interesting rarities too…Appl sounds as if singing is his most natural mode of expression; and since he has an extraordinary beautiful voice, there should be decades of happiness as he continues to expand his repertoire." - BBC Music Magazine

"The voice has a burnished, oaky beauty as well as considerable sweetness, while the interpretations are suffused with a gentle intelligence, an instinct for unforced but direct communication and what feels like a real love for the repertoire." - Gramophone

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Baritone Benjamin Appl is celebrated by audiences and critics alike for a voice that "belongs to the last of the old great masters of song" with "an almost infinite range of colours" (Suddeutsche Zeitung), and artistry that’s described as "unbearably moving" (The Times). Former Gramophone Award Young Artist of the Year in 2016, Appl was a BBC New Generation Artist 2014-16, a Wigmore Hall Emerging Artist and ECHO Rising Star in the 2015-16 season. He signed exclusively to SONY Classical in 2016 and begins an exciting multi-album collaboration with Alpha Classics from Autumn 2021.

 

An established recitalist, Appl has performed at the Ravinia, Rheingau, Schleswig Holstein, Edinburgh International, Life Victoria Barcelona, and Oxford Lieder festivals, deSingel Antwerp, Heidelberger Frühling, and at the KlavierFestival Ruhr. He has performed at major concert venues including Festspielhaus Baden-Baden, Het Concertgebouw Amsterdam, Elbphilharmonie Hamburg and the Musée de Louvre, Paris, in addition to which he is a regular recitalist at Wigmore Hall and at the Schubertiade Hohenems and Schwarzenberg.  In equal demand as soloist on the world’s most prestigious stages, he collaborates with the NHK Symphony Orchestra, Philadelphia Orchestra, Staatskapelle Dresden, Philharmonia Orchestra, Seattle Symphony, Vienna Symphony and many others.

 

Appl’s 2022-23 season includes orchestral concerts with the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra with Klaus Mäkelä and Royal Liverpool Philharmonic in Mozart’s Requiem; NDR Hannover  in Brahms’ Requiem; RSNO and Thomas Søndergård in Britten’s War Requiem; La Verdi Orchestra Milan in Mahler’s Kindertotenlieder; and Zurich Chamber Orchestra’s prestigious New Year’s Gala among others.

 

This season, Appl is Artist in Residence at London’s St. Martin in the Fields giving multiple recitals throughout the year including a collaboration with Holocaust surviver Éva Fahidi in a recital and talk exploring the loss of family, identity, memory and rediscovered hope. In addition, he looks forward to revisiting successful collaborations with lutenist Thomas Dunford in Bonn, Schleswig Holstein and Oxford Lieder Festivals; with pianist Alice Sara Ott at London’s Southbank Centre; with accordionist Martynas in Heidelberg, Mecklenburg Vorpommern, and with pianist James Baillieu at Festival St. Denis. Following his successful visit in 2022, Benjamin returns to the US for a series of prestigious recitals with James Baillieu, making his eagerly anticipated Carnegie Hall debut, as well as concerts for San Francisco Performances, Vancouver, Portland and others.