Sipplingen Town Hall Concerts: Song Evening with Thomas Gropper

Winter Journey Song Evening It is night, it is winter – at least in the heart of the wanderer. After being abandoned by his beloved, there is nothing that holds him back. At night, he sets off, hurrying out of the house and away from people, wanting to leave everything behind. But it is not easy for him: time and again he looks back and indulges in sweet memories of happier days. Torn between bitterness, hope, and a longing for death, he sways from one emotional extreme to another. In the wintry landscape, he sees reflections of his own inner numbness. Franz Schubert and the poet Wilhelm Müller created a 24-part novella in songs that illuminates the emotional depths of the seemingly so harmless Biedermeier era.

Thomas Gropper (born in 1969 in Braunlage) is a German baritone and professor of singing, voice science, and vocal pedagogy at the Hochschule für Musik und Theater München. He is also heard as a speaker and moderator at Bayerischer Rundfunk (BR). Thomas Gropper possesses a wealth of artistic and pedagogical experience in the fields of singing and voice training. His focus lies in the area of oratorios, passions, and masses, where he has sung all significant bass and baritone roles as a soloist and has participated in numerous radio and CD recordings. In addition, Thomas Gropper is active in the field of opera and has performed, among others, as Figaro, Don Giovanni, and Papageno in Mozart operas, as well as Don Febeo at the Stadttheater Ingolstadt in Simon Mayr's Che Originali. In 2007, he took on the title role in Monteverdi's L’Orfeo at the opera festival in the Hersfeld Stiftsruine. Since 1997, he has been teaching at the Hochschule für Musik und Theater München, where he was appointed a professor of singing, speech training, and vocal pedagogy in 2001. He studied opera and concert singing as well as vocal pedagogy at the Hochschule für Musik und Theater München with Markus Goritzki and with Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau in Berlin. A significant part of Gropper's work involves pedagogy and choral work; he was a voice trainer for the Munich Bach Choir and the Munich Motet Choir and taught for 10 years at a renowned Munich acting school. He frequently serves as a lecturer in training sessions and workshops on choral and voice work.

In addition, Thomas Gropper has increasingly expanded his artistic repertoire to include choral work and conducting: since 2005, he has been leading the chamber choir "Arcis-Vocalisten München," with which he performs a cappella and oratorio literature and undertakes numerous concert tours. Thomas Gropper has conducted, among others, the Südwestdeutsche Philharmonie Konstanz, the Vogtland Philharmonie, the Philharmonic Orchestra Bad Reichenhall, and the Baroque ensembles La banda and L'arpa festante, among others, in the Herkulessaal and Prinzregententheater Munich as well as in the Brunnenhof of the Residenz. Since 2016, he has also been leading the chamber choir Chur in Graubünden/Switzerland. In 2010, he sang for the first time as a soloist with the Birnauer Kantorei, and in spring 2014, the choir elected him as the successor to Klaus Reiners.

Press reviews: “It is a joy to listen to his warm flowing baritone, which captivates with tender piano but also swells to the highest drama...” (Schwäbische Zeitung)

Links: Trailer Winterreise: https://m.facebook.com/story.php?story_fbid=10157037444448524&id=568003523 Live recording Brahms: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tZMUrXXvm4 Thomas as the leader of the Arcis-Vocalisten München: https://www.arcis-vocalisten.de/ueber-uns/thomas-gropper.html