Dominik Köninger & Volker Krafft

Dominik Köninger receiving prize "Taking my first step on to the stage at Wigmore Hall was simply like a dream coming true. It was the occasion of my first rehearsal with my accompanist Volker Krafft for the Wigmore Hall International Song Competition. We had often talked about one day being on that stage but to find ourselves there was almost overwhelming.

The acoustic of Wigmore Hall is one of the most exciting spaces that I have ever sung in. Finally a place, where one can sing a pianissimo and take the chance to use space and time to give full effect of the songs and to have the right atmosphere or to burst out into a big forte, without losing the balance between voice and piano.

It also seems to me that the audience of Wigmore Hall are incredibly friendly and supportive and generally interested in the singers at the competition. They would talk openly and directly to both Volker and myself and their knowledge of the song repertoire was very skilled.

I was also lucky to come into direct contact with the members of the Jury of the Competition and given various advice, and I am sure that this will help in my career as a singer in the future.

I am now looking forward to going back to Vienna to perform at the Volksoper, amongst others, and to some Christmas concerts; including Mendelssohn’s Elijah and Bach‘s Christmas Oratorio in Germany." Dominik Köninger, first prize winner 2011.

Scroll to the bottom of this page to see pictures of Dominik during rehearsals for the Song Competition and to watch his final recital video.

Dominik Köninger

baritone

First Prize Winner 2011

Born in Heidelberg, the German baritone Dominik Köninger studied in Karlsruhe with Prof. Roland Hermann.

Since his debut in 2004, his opera and concert engagements allowed him to work with conductors and directors as Kent Nagano, Bertrand de Billy, Robert Wilson and Robert Carsen, at prestigious venues including the Festspielhaus Baden-Baden, Hamburg State Opera, Staatstheater Stuttgart, Theater an der Wien or Bavarian State Opera.

Starting with the 2012/13 season, Dominik will be an ensemble member of the Komische Oper Berlin and he will make his debut at NNT in Tokyo in 2013.

Volker Krafft

piano

Volker Krafft was born in Tübingen and studied in Leipzig and Amsterdam with Phillip Moll, Christian Kluttig and Bart van Oort.

He has been a prize winner at several major piano competitions and has established a reputation for Chamber Music and Lieder recitals and has worked in particular with Richard Egarr, Dominik Köninger and Andrew Watts.

Since 2010 Volker has been a member of the Jette Parker Young Artist Programme at the Royal Opera House where he works closely with Antonio Pappano, Sir Colin Davis and Sir Mark Elder. Previously, Volker worked in several German opera houses.