Konstantin Krimmel admits he’s ‘waiting to see what his voice does next’

When he made his debut with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra in 2024, German-Romanian baritone Konstantin Krimmel performed Mahler’s Songs of a Wayfarer.

For his return, he will tackle more German repertoire, this time, Brahms’ Requiem, in concerts Oct. 29-31 under Nikolaj Szeps-Znaider. 

With soprano Katharina Konradi, the Luxembourg Philharmonic Orchestra and the Gächinger Cantorey, conducted by Hans-Christoph Rademann, Krimmel recorded the Brahms Requiem last year for Naxos. Brahms’ Requiem is not addressed to the deceased, but to the bereaved: to the mourners, the living. It offers solace, hope and inner reflection beyond religious dogma. The biblical texts in German lend the work a personal, almost intimate dimension.

At age 33, Krimmel has established a thriving career in recitals, opera and orchestral concerts. Though he has sung for his entire life, Krimmel is still “waiting to see what his voice does next.”

At age 5, he joined the St. Georg’s Boys Choir in Ulm, Germany, and sang with the ensemble until he was 20. Going through the change of voice was “a little scary,” he said. “Every boy who wants to sing has to discover his voice and his whole body in a new way.” He sang tenor at first — partly because his choir had 20 basses and three tenors — but as a university student, he and his teacher “discovered that maybe that was not my register.”

But voices always grow and evolve. Krimmel recalled a recital he did with legendary mezzo-soprano Brigitte Fassbaender. Afterward, he said, “she asked me where my voice was going, and I said, ‘I don’t know.’ But I’m happy with what I’m doing now — lots of Mozart in opera, and stepping into the world of Mahler and Strauss. If my voice is getting bigger, maybe in five or 10 years, it’ll lead me to Wagner.”

To establish a career took “a lot of luck,” he said, “and maybe a few times being in the right spot at the right time.” He won several song contests in his early 20s and got a position with the Bavarian State Opera in Munich shortly before the pandemic began, ensuring a regular paycheck.

But the vast repertoire of art songs, or lieder, remains his first love. “I love opera, but recitals are No. 1,” he said. “I can be my own boss — director, conductor, whatever I want. It’s nice to do concerts with just two people onstage. Organizationally, it’s very practical.”

Singing with a full orchestra behind him is a different experience. “There are many more things you have to work out, many more things that could go wrong,” he said. “But when it’s all going the same way, it can be an even more enjoyable evening than a recital.”

He also needs of course to be mindful of what the orchestra is doing. “With that big instrument behind you, it’s quite a challenge not to force yourself,” Krimmel said. “Even if they’re all playing softly, you have to stay calm and say to yourself, don’t push, don’t force.” On the plus side, “the orchestra has all these different colors, the flute, the oboe, sounds the piano can’t play. You spend a few days rehearsing, and you can work out very intimate and quiet phrasing.” 

Singers have physical limitations on how much time they can spend practicing, however, much more so than what pianists or string players do. Krimmel will spend about three hours a day working on fundamentals or repertoire when he is at home. Opera rehearsals can go six or seven hours daily, but even though he’s not singing the whole time, it takes a lot of concentration.

In past years, Krimmel would sometimes try to squeeze in a recital in between opera rehearsals, “but that’s a challenge for the head,” he said. “You need spots to rest your voice and rest your brain.”

This is an updated version of an article that was previously published on Experience CSO.