Benjamin Appl

Baritone Benjamin Appl is celebrated for a voice that “belongs to the last of the old great masters of song” with “an almost infinite range of colours” (Süddeutsche Zeitung).

A former BBC New Generation Artist, Wigmore Hall Emerging Artist and ECHO Rising Star, he was named Gramophone Young Artist of the Year in 2016. After signing exclusively to Sony Classical, he later began a multi-album collaboration with Alpha Classics, including an acclaimed recording of Schubert’s Winterreise.

Appl was a chorister with the Regensburger Domspatzen and studied in Munich and London. He was mentored by Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau, whom he regards as a lifelong artistic inspiration.
Widely regarded as one of today’s leading recitalists, he appears at major venues including Wigmore Hall, Concertgebouw Amsterdam, Elbphilharmonie Hamburg, Philharmonie de Paris, Vienna Konzerthaus and the Musée du Louvre. He collaborates regularly with leading orchestras such as the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra, Philadelphia Orchestra, NHK Symphony Orchestra, Staatskapelle Dresden and Munich Philharmonic under conductors including Klaus Mäkelä, Paavo Järvi, Yannick Nézet-Séguin and Christian Thielemann.

Recent recital highlights include Carnegie Hall, Park Avenue Armory, Sydney Opera House and Suntory Hall. He is an imaginative programmer, working across a wide range of chamber and recital partnerships. Equally active in early and contemporary music, he collaborates with leading ensembles and has premiered works by Jörg Widmann, Nico Muhly and Matthias Pintscher, alongside a long-standing partnership with György Kurtág. On stage, Appl has performed at major opera houses including Staatsoper Berlin, Hamburgische Staatsoper, the Gran Teatre del Liceu Barcelona and Teatro Real Madrid.

Appl records extensively. In 2025 he released Lines of Life (György Kurtág) and For Dieter (Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau). Other recent recordings include The Christmas Album (2024), Forbidden Fruit (2023), and Schubert and song projects with orchestra and in recital. His Sony debut Heimat received the Prix Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau.

Beyond the concert hall, he appeared in a filmed Winterreise in the Swiss Alps (BBC/SRF, BBC4, 2022), presented BBC Radio 3’s A Singer’s World, and featured in Breaking Music, exploring the meeting of tango and German Lied.

Faculties / departments: Vocal Studies

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