Max Emanuel Cencic is one of the world’s most fascinating artists committed to the rediscovery and performance of 18th century music.
He began his vocal training as a Viennese choirboy and began a solo career as a soprano as early as 1992, which he continued as a countertenor from 2001.
He has been on stage for more than 40 years, performing worldwide at major opera houses 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 Berlin State Opera, Barcelona’s Gran Teatro del Liceu, the Théâtre des Champs-Élysées, the Paris Opera and the Brussels opera house La Monnaie.
Concerts have taken him to Hamburg’s Laeiszhalle, New York’s Carnegie Hall, London’s Barbican Center, Amsterdam’s Concertgebouw, Vienna’s Musikverein and Moscow’s Konzerthaus and Tchaikovsky Hall. He has also performed at numerous festivals worldwide, including the Salzburg Festival. He works regularly with conductors such as William Christie, René Jacobs, Ottavio Dantone, George Petrou, Christophe Rousset, Emmanuelle Haïm and Riccardo Muti.
Max Emanuel Cencic attracts great attention to his projects by bringing them to audiences in opera productions, CD recordings as well as extensive tours. As artistic director of Parnassus Arts Productions, he is responsible for the conception, direction and performance of important works of the Italian Baroque.
He has received many awards for his work, including the ECHO Klassik, the German Record Critics’ Prize and the Diapason d’or. He has also been nominated twice for a Grammy.
For his artistic work, he was awarded the Chevalier des Ordre des Arts et des Lettres by the French Ministry of Culture and received the Honorary Award of the German Record Critics e.V. in the category “Classical Music” in 2021 for his life’s work.
Max Emanuel Cencic has long since made a name for himself internationally as a director, for example with the live production of Hasse’s Siroe, which toured Europe and was released on CD by Decca. At the 2016 and 2017 Handel Festival Karlsruhe with Arminio (title role and direction) and in 2019 and 2020 with Xerxes (role of Arsame and direction) he performed double roles.
Xerxes proved to be an outstanding success with the audience in Karlsruhe and was also enthusiastically celebrated by the press. Enormous success, standing audience ovations and rave reviews were received by Max Emanuel Cencic’s production of Nicola Antonio Porpora’s rarely performed opera Polifemo at the 2019 Salzburg Whitsun Festival at the world-famous Felsenreitschule, where the artist was responsible for the direction and sang the role of Ulisse. In 2018/19 Max Emanuel Cencic presented his interpretation of Rossini’s La donna del lago at Opera de Lausanne, Opera HNK Zagreb and the Hessisches Staatstheater Wiesbaden.
Max Emanuel Cencic has been artistic director of the Bayreuth Baroque Opera Festival since September 2020.
In the 2022/23 season he made his house debut at La Scala in Milan in Porpora’s Carlo il Calvo, which was also presented in concert at the Konzerthaus Dortmund and simultaneously released as a studio recording on the Parnassus Arts Productions label.
The production Polifemo, directed by Max Emanuel Cencic, was staged at the Hessisches Staatstheater Wiesbaden with him as Ulisse, in concert at the Musiktheater an der Wien and at the Concertgebouw Amsterdam, and will also be released as a studio recording in September 2023 on the Parnassus Arts Productions label.
Recent engagements include solo concerts throughout Europe as well as performances as Tolomeo (Giulio Cesare) in Paris, Monte Carlo, Versailles, and at the Vienna State Opera, and as Guido (Flavio) at the Theater an der Wien.
