Orhan Yildiz

Orhan Yildiz was born in Samsun, Turkey. He began his vocal studies at the Mersin Conservatory under the tutelage of the Polish tenor Roman Werlisnki, before joining the prestigious Studio of de Opéra de Marseille where he refined his vocal technique with mezzosoprano Yvonne Minton.

In the 2022/23 season, he will sing Il conte Almaviva (Le Nozze di Figaro), Giorgio Germont (La Traviata) and create the role of Dieter Urban in the new opera Die letzte Verschwörung composed by Moritz Eggert and staged by Lotte de Beer, all at the Volksoper in Vienna.

Celebrated for his warm and virile baritone voice and his compelling acting, Orhan Yildiz has captivated the Viennese audiences as an ensemble menber of the Wiener Staatsoper from 2018-2020 in roles as Dandini (La Cenerentola), Belcore ( Elisir d'Amore), Valentin (Gounod's Faust) and Marcello ( La Bohème).
Recently Orhan Yildiz has been focussing on the Verdian repertoire, having debuted the roles of Ford in Falstaff at Malmö Opera in a new production by Lotte de Beer, conducted by Steven Sloane; and Amonasro in Aida - performances across Denmark with the Danish National Opera as well as with Staatstheater Braunschweig. In future seasons he will be adding more Verdian roles to his repertoire, including Germont (La Traviata), Renato ( Un ballo in maschera), Rodrigo Marchese di Posa /Don Carlo).

Yildiz is a prize winner of the 2012 Francisco Vinas Competition in Barcelona, the 2004 Belvedere Competition in Vienna and the 2002 Siemens Voice Competition in Istanbul and was a finalist of the renowned Operalia competition.

His recent successes in Vienna include his role debuts as Lescaut (Manon) under the baton of Frédéric Chaslin, Dandini (La Cenerentola), Taddeo (L’italiana in Algeri), Malatesta (Don Pasquale) and Belcore (Elisir d’Amore) all under the baton of Evelino Pidò, Valentin (Faust) under Simone Young, and Marcello (La Bohème) under Speranza Scappucci, among others. As a guest soloist, he performed Moruccio (Tiefland by Eugen d'Albert) at the Théâtre du Capitole de Toulouse under the baton of Claus Peter Flor in a new production by Walter Sutcliffe, Marcello (La Bohème) at the Staatsoper Hamburg with Stefano Ranzani in a produciton by Guy Joosten and at the Ópera Nacional de Chile in Santiago as Taddeo (L’italiana in Algeri), Guglielmo (Così fan tutte) and as Bill (Aufstieg und Fall der Stadt Mahagonny).

From 2010-2016 he was a member of the ensemble of Staatstheater Braunschweig upon the invitation of musical director Alexander Joel. His performed roles include Escamillo (Carmen), Giorgio Germont (La Traviata), Ford (Falstaff), Marcello (La Bohème), Ping (Turandot), the title role in Don Giovanni, Il conte Almaviva as well as Figaro (Le nozze di Figaro), and Figaro (Il barbiere di Siviglia), Demetrius (A Midsummer Night’s Dream), Heathcliff (Wuthering Heights), Oblonskij (Anna Karenina) and Klingsor (Parsifal) among numerous other roles he sang while in Braunschweig.