René Pape

René Pape

"René Pape’s bass showed considerable velvet sheen and elegant dynamic play; purely as singing and star presence, he impressed." Born in Dresden, Black Diamond Bass Rene Pape has been a member of the Berlin State Opera since 1988, but considers New York’s Metropolitan Opera his operatic “home away from home.” Since his house debut in 1995, he has appeared every season at the Met, in 18 roles and more than 160 performances, including four major debuts: Méphistophélès in Faust, Gurnemanz in Parsifal, Escamillo in Carmen, and the Old Hebrew in Samson et Dalila. But it was at the famous Unter den Linden – home of the Berlin State Opera – where Pape honed most of the great roles of his career. Music Director Daniel Barenboim was an early supporter, and the Berlin State Opera has played host to Pape’s performances as King Marke in Tristan und Isolde; King Heinrich in Lohengrin; Sarastro in Mozart’s Die Zauberflöte; Pogner in DieMeistersinger; Rocco in Beethoven’s Fidelio; Fasolt in Das Rheingold; Hunding in Die Walküre; and the title role in Don Giovanni. The opera house was also the venue for Pape’s appearances as Ramfis in Verdi’s Aida; Figaro in Mozart’s Le nozze di Figaro; Leporello in Don Giovanni; and Orest in Strauss’s Elektra. Pape’s first CD of solo arias, Gods, Kings & Demons, was released in 2008 on Deutsche Grammophon with his hometown orchestra, the Staatskapelle Dresden conducted by Sebastian Weigle. The disc won a coveted “ECHO” award, the German equivalent of a Grammy. Pape performs regularly in major opera houses, concert halls, and symphony orchestras around the world, as well as opera festivals such as Bayreuth, Glyndebourne, Lucerne, Orange, Saint-Petersburg, Salzburg, Verbier and White Nights. He currently resides in Austria and Berlin.

  • Title: René Pape
  • Popularity: 1.484
  • Known For: Acting
  • Birthday: 1964-09-04
  • Place of Birth: Dresden, Germany
  • Homepage: http://www.renepape.com/
  • Also Known As: The Black Diamond Bass
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René Pape Movies

  • 2011
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    Faust (The Royal Opera House)

    Faust (The Royal Opera House)

    10 2011 HD

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  • 2021
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    Metropolitan Opera: Boris Godunov

    Metropolitan Opera: Boris Godunov

    9 2021 HD

    Bass René Pape, the world’s reigning Boris, reprises his overwhelming portrayal of the tortured tsar caught between grasping ambition...

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  • 2021
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    The Metropolitan Opera: Boris Godunov

    The Metropolitan Opera: Boris Godunov

    1 2021 HD

    Bass René Pape, the world’s reigning Boris, reprises his overwhelming portrayal of the tortured tsar caught between grasping ambition...

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  • 2006
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    The Magic Flute

    The Magic Flute

    6.3 2006 HD

    During World War I, in an unnamed country, a soldier named Tamino is sent by the Queen of the Night to rescue her daughter Pamina from the clutches...

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  • 1998
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    Samson et Dalila

    Samson et Dalila

    1 1998 HD

    Elijah Moshinsky's production of Saint-Saëns's "Samson et Dalila", recorded live at the Metropolitan Opera 28 September 1998. Plácido...

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  • 2010
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    Strauss R: Elektra

    Strauss R: Elektra

    10 2010 HD

    The Nikolaus Lehnhoff production of Richard Strauss's "Elektra", recorded live at the Salzburger Festspiele in 2010. Iréne Theorin stars as...

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  • 2011
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    Salzburg Festival Opening Concert

    Salzburg Festival Opening Concert

    1 2011 HD

    This recording features the opening concert of the Salzburg Festival in 2010, in which the Festival celebrated its 90th anniversary and the 50th...

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  • 2012
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    Lohengrin: Opera romantica in tre atti

    Lohengrin: Opera romantica in tre atti

    1 2012 HD

    The people of the Duchy of Brabant are divided by quarrels and political infighting; also, a devious hostile power left over from the region's pagan...

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  • 2003
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    Ludwig van Beethoven: Fidelio

    Ludwig van Beethoven: Fidelio

    10 2003 HD

    Two years prior to the opening scene, the nobleman Florestan has exposed or attempted to expose certain crimes of the nobleman Pizarro. In revenge,...

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  • 2017
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    The Metropolitan Opera: Die Zauberflöte

    The Metropolitan Opera: Die Zauberflöte

    1 2017 HD

    Met Music Director Emeritus James Levine conducts Tony Award winner Julie Taymor’s production of Mozart’s masterpiece, Die...

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  • 2014
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    The Metropolitan Opera: Macbeth

    The Metropolitan Opera: Macbeth

    1 2014 HD

    The Met Opera’s broadcast of Verdi’s Macbeth will be presented live in select cinemas nationwide on Saturday, October 11 at 12:55 p.m. ET...

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  • 2006
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    The Magic Flute

    The Magic Flute

    6.5 2006 HD

    The Queen of the Night enlists a handsome prince named Tamino to rescue her beautiful kidnapped daughter, Princess Pamina. Aided by the lovelorn bird...

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  • 2017
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    Schumann - Scenes from Goethe's Faust

    Schumann - Scenes from Goethe's Faust

    1 2017 HD

    The Berlin State Opera is back at its place of origin: Unter den Linden! After extensive renovations, it was reopened with Schumann's scenes from...

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  • 2022
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    Giacomo Puccini: Turandot

    Giacomo Puccini: Turandot

    1 2022 HD

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  • 2014
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    Macbeth

    Macbeth

    1 2014 HD

    Star soprano Anna Netrebko created a sensation with her riveting performance as the malevolent Lady Macbeth, the central character in Verdi’s...

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  • 2013
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    Solti Centenary Concert

    Solti Centenary Concert

    1 2013 HD

    Solti’s 100th birthday on October 21, 2012, featuring the World Orchestra for Peace. This unique ensemble owes its existence to the vision of...

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  • 2000
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    Beethoven: Fidelio

    Beethoven: Fidelio

    10 2000 HD

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  • 2010
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    Hunter's Bride

    Hunter's Bride

    6 2010 HD

    Inspired by Carl Maria von Weber's Der Freischütz, the film opera Hunter's Bride traces the romantic rivalry between two veterans of the...

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  • 2013
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    Parsifal

    Parsifal

    8 2013 HD

    The Met assembled an ideal cast for François Girard’s acclaimed new production of Wagner’s final masterpiece: Jonas Kaufmann in...

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  • 2001
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    Die Meistersinger Von Nürnberg

    Die Meistersinger Von Nürnberg

    10 2001 HD

    James Morris leads an all-star cast including Karita Mattila, Ben Heppner, Thomas Allen and René Pape, in this production of Wagner's comic...

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  • 2013
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    Verdi: Requiem

    Verdi: Requiem

    9 2013 HD

    This is an exhilarating experience both visually and aurally. How wonderful that Barenboim is havng such success with Verdi this late in his...

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  • 2016
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    The Metropolitan Opera: Tristan und Isolde

    The Metropolitan Opera: Tristan und Isolde

    9.5 2016 HD

    Met audiences were fascinated by Mariusz Treliński’s gripping, visionary production of Wagner’s epic opera. In the daunting title roles...

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  • 2010
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    The Metropolitan Opera: Boris Godunov

    The Metropolitan Opera: Boris Godunov

    1 2010 HD

    Stephen Wadsworth’s production of Mussorgsky’s epic masterpiece brilliantly captures the suffering and ambition of the Russian people at...

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  • 2011
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    Gounod: Faust

    Gounod: Faust

    1 2011 HD

    Tenor Jonas Kaufmann is riveting as the title character of Gounod’s popular opera, seen in this Live in HD presentation of Des McAnuff’s...

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  • 2006
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    The Magic Flute

    The Magic Flute

    8.667 2006 HD

    Tamino, a handsome prince, and Papageno, a bird-catcher, are sent by the Queen of Night to rescue her daughter Pamina from captivity under the high...

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  • 2008
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    Wagner: Tristan und Isolde

    Wagner: Tristan und Isolde

    1 2008 HD

    Glyndebourne's celebrated production of Nikolaus Lehnhoff's Tristan und Isolde is a supremely intelligent achievement; gravely beautiful, haunting...

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  • 2013
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    Wagner : Parsifal

    Wagner : Parsifal

    1 2013 HD

    A young man ignorant of everything, including his own name, arrives at the Kingdom of the Holy Grail. Is he the ‘pure fool, enlightened by...

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  • 2018
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    Wagner: Tristan und Isolde

    Wagner: Tristan und Isolde

    1 2018 HD

    Motivated by the love that bound him to Mathilda Wesendonck, Richard Wagner’s composition of Tristan und Isolde goes far beyond any simple...

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  • 1999
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    Le nozze di Figaro

    Le nozze di Figaro

    1 1999 HD

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  • 2019
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    Verdi: Simon Boccanegra (Salzburg Festival)

    Verdi: Simon Boccanegra (Salzburg Festival)

    1 2019 HD

    Power struggles among rival families in 14th-century Genoa, a story of tragic love, a young girl gone missing… Verdi’s Simon Boccanegra...

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  • 1991
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    Mozart Requiem

    Mozart Requiem

    1 1991 HD

    You will find this Requiem the finest on video. It certainly outshines Bohm's dated approach, and Bernstein's lethargically slow performance. (No...

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  • 2016
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    Mefistofele

    Mefistofele

    1 2016 HD

    The director, Roland Schwab, has created his version of Hell. The set is like a high iron walled hanger and the stage is continually occupied with...

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  • 2013
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    Wagner: Das Rheingold

    Wagner: Das Rheingold

    1 2013 HD

    The La Scala Rheingold in May 2010 inaugurated Guy Cassiers Ring-Cycle and introduces a completely new paradigm to this work. While before him...

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  • 2017
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    The Metropolitan Opera: The Magic Flute

    The Metropolitan Opera: The Magic Flute

    1 2017 HD

    Julie Taymor’s kaleidoscopic production returns to select cinemas this holiday season in an encore presentation of the company’s...

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  • 2014
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    Tannhäuser

    Tannhäuser

    1 2014 HD

    A brand new production of ‘’Tannhäuser’’ at the Staatsoper Berlin conducted by Daniel Barenboim, staged and...

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  • 2020
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    Metropolitan Opera At Home Gala

    Metropolitan Opera At Home Gala

    9 2020 HD

    In its most ambitious effort yet to bring the joy and artistry of opera to audiences everywhere during the Met’s closure, the company presented...

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  • 1999
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    Tristan und Isolde

    Tristan und Isolde

    10 1999 HD

    Inspired by Wagner’s own tortured affair with the wife of his patron, this searing masterwork is based on Arthurian legend and tells of an...

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  • 2013
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    Mozart Requiem - Claudio Abbado & Lucerne Festival Orchestra

    Mozart Requiem - Claudio Abbado & Lucerne Festival Orchestra

    1 2013 HD

    Mozart did not write the Requiem as despairing funeral music for his impending death. Rather, the piece proclaims eternal light and redemption....

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  • 2013
    imgMovies

    Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart - Requiem - Claudio Abbado

    Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart - Requiem - Claudio Abbado

    9 2013 HD

    Mozart did not write the Requiem as despairing funeral music for his impending death. Rather, the piece proclaims eternal light and redemption....

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  • 2015
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    Verdi: Macbeth

    Verdi: Macbeth

    10 2015 HD

    Star soprano Anna Netrebko created a sensation in her first Met performances as the malevolent Lady Macbeth, the central character in Verdi’s...

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  • 2021
    imgMovies

    Die Zauberflöte aus der Semperoper Dresden

    Die Zauberflöte aus der Semperoper Dresden

    1 2021 HD

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  • 2016
    imgMovies

    Parsifal

    Parsifal

    1 2016 HD

    Wagner’s mystic masterpiece Parsifal at the Staatsoper Berlin, staged by Dmitri Tcherniakov and conducted by Daniel Barenboim. Wagner’s...

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  • 2020
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    Lohengrin

    Lohengrin

    1 2020 HD

    Spanish opera and theater director Calixto Bieito makes his debut with this grand romantic opera at the Staatsoper Unter den Linden, guiding the...

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  • 2016
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    Don Carlo

    Don Carlo

    1 2016 HD

    The 2016 Don Carlo production at the Vienna State Opera, directed by Daniele Abbado, offered a modern, minimalist take on Verdi's masterpiece. Abbado...

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  • 2025
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    The Metropolitan Opera: Fidelio

    The Metropolitan Opera: Fidelio

    1 2025 HD

    Following a string of awe-inspiring Met performances, soprano Lise Davidsen stars as Leonore, who risks everything to save her husband from the...

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  • 2014
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    MDR um 4

    MDR um 4

    5 2014 HD

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  • 1998
    imgS1 E240

    Lebensläufe

    Lebensläufe

    1 1998 HD

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  • 1992
    imgS30 E15

    Riverboat

    Riverboat

    5.5 1992 HD

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  • 2006
    imgS15 E1

    Semperopernball

    Semperopernball

    1 2006 HD

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