Patrick Grahl was born in Leipzig and was initially a member of the St. Thomas Choir of Leipzig under Georg Christoph Biller; he then went on to complete his singing training at the Felix Mendelssohn-Bartholdy Academy of Music in Leipzig with Professor Berthold Schmid, graduating with distinction in the master-class examination. Patrick Grahl attended master-classes held by Peter Schreier, Gotthold Schwarz, Gerd Türk, Ileana Cotrubas and Prof. Karl-Peter Kammerlander which gave him decisive momentum for his artistic development. While still a student Patrick Grahl was able to work on and perform roles such as Alfred (in Die Fledermaus by Johann Strauß), Tamino (in Mozart’s Die Zauberflöte) and Albert (in Albert Herring by Britten). He was also to be heard as the Young Servant in Elektra by Richard Strauss, and as Shepherd / Voice of a Young Sailor in Richard Wagner’s Tristan und Isolde at the Opéra National de Lyon. During the current season Patrick Grahl gives guest appearances as Don Ottavio in Mozart’s Don Giovanni at the Teatro La Fenice di Venezia.
In 2016 the tenor won first prize at the XX International Johann Sebastian Bach Competition in Leipzig. He is already much in demand as an oratorio and concert singer and has been invited to perform as soloist with orchestras such as the Leipzig Gewandhausorchester, the Dresden Philharmonic, the NDR Radio Philharmonic, the Gürzenichorchester Cologne as well as the Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia and the London Symphony Orchestra; he has worked with conductors such as Sir John Eliot Gardiner, Daniele Gatti, Hartmut Haenchen, Ludwig Güttler, Peter Schreier, Andrew Manze and Leopold Hager. Patrick Grahl still has close ties with the St. Thomas Choir of Leipzig and with the Dresdner Kreuzchor.
During the current season Patrick Grahl performs among others with the hr-Symphony Orchestra conducted by Emmanuelle Haim in works by Bach and Handel, with the Windsbach Boys Choir and the Akademie für Alte Musik in Bach’s Christmas Oratorio conducted by Martin Lehmann, in Bach‘s St. John Passion conducted by Peter Schreier in the Thomaskirche Leipzig, with the Mitteldeutsches Kammerorchester and the Monteverdi Chor in Mendelssohn’s Elias conducted by Gothart Stier.
He also goes on a tour of Europe with the Basle Chamber Orchestra conducted by Giovanni Antonini, performing Beethoven’s Fidelio and undertakes a tour of South America performing works by Bach conducted by Hans-Christoph Rademann, as well as singing in B.A. Zimmermann’s Lob der Torheit with the Gürzenichorchester in Cologne. The season comes to a close with a guest concert in San Sebastian as soloist in Michael Haydn’s Requiem in c-moll conducted by Christian Zacharias.
Besides his many commitments on the concert and opera stage Patrick Grahl also has a dedicated interest in chamber music projects and recitals, for instance with his male voice quartet Thios Omilos or the ensemble Barockwerk Ost, with which in 2014 he won first prize of the Advancement prize for Early Music awarded by Saarland Radio and the Academy of Ancient Music in the Saarland. Until 2013 Patrick Grahl was also awarded a scholarship by the Friedrich Ebert Foundation in Bonn.
