Max Emanuel Cenčić

The countertenor, director, impresario, agency owner and artistic director Max Emanuel Cenčic is committed to the rediscovery and performance of 18th century music. He has been performing on stage for more than 40 years, appearing at major opera houses worldwide, such as the Vienna State Opera, the Theater an der Wien, the Zurich Opera House, the Opéra Royal in Versailles, the Bavarian State Opera, the Staatsoper Unter den Linden Berlin, Barcelona’s Gran Teatro del Liceu, the Theatre des Champs-Elysées, La Scala in Milan, the Staatsoper Unter den Linden and the Brussels opera house La Monnaie. Starting his vocal training as a boy singer in Vienna, he began his solo career as a soprano in 1992, which he continued as a countertenor from 2001. As director of Parnassus Arts Productions, he is responsible for the conception, direction, and performance of important works of Italian baroque music. For his artistic work, he was honored by the French Ministry of Culture as Chevalier dans l’Ordre des Arts et des Lettres and received the Honorary Award of the German Record Critics’ Association in the ‘Classical’ category in 2021 for his life’s work.

Max Emanuel Cenčic is now also making a name for himself internationally as a director and has staged productions at the 2019 Salzburg Festival and at the Badisches Staatstheater as part of the International Handel Festival, among others. Since 2020, Max Emanuel Cenčic has been the artistic director of the Bayreuth Baroque Opera Festival, which was voted the best festival of 2024 by Oper! Awards. His most recent roles include Lotario at La Scala in Milan, Guido in Vienna and Bayreuth, and Tolomeo in Paris, Cologne, Luxembourg, the Monte Carlo Opera, Versailles and at the Vienna State Opera.