NilsWanderer

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  • Countertenor

About Nils

Countertenor Nils Wanderer, winner of the Bundeswettbewerb Gesang and Second Prize Winner of Operalia, the world’s most prestigious opera competition, has been hailed for his "beautiful, dark, well-developed and amber colored voice which deploys a wide palette of colors throughout the action, with irony, tenderness, resentment, authority, magnanimity, all with a remarkable pronunciation and a magnetic theatrical presence." (Olyrix)

In the 2025/26 season, Nils begins his season with a return to a signature role, Oberon in Britten’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream, appearing at Glyndebourne in Peter Hall’s beloved production. He has garnered widespread acclaim for his portrayal of Oberon, with Diapsaonlauding him as "a countertenor with perfectly unified registers and a supernatural ease of phrasing." Later this season, Nils will bow as Ottone in Monteverdi’s L’incoronazionedi Poppea for MecklenburgischesStaatstheaterand makes his role debut as Prince Go-Go in Ligeti’s Le Grand Macabre at Theatre Bielefeld, as well as his Metropolitan Opera debut, bowing as Leonardo in a new production of El Último Sueñode Frida y Diego, directed by Deborah Colker and conducted by Yannick Nézet-Séguin.

Nils will also perform for the first time at the Brucknerhaus Linz, appearing in recital with pianist Daniel Heide. The program, Wanderer Between the Worlds, highlights a wide range of genres, including his self-penned song, "St. Petersburg." He will also join the Orchestre Symphonique de Quebec for another genre-defying program, L’expérience Nils Wanderer, which features music from Bach to Leonard Cohen.

Nils is based in Stuttgart, Germany

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Contact

For availability and general enquiries:

Joel Thomas

Joel Thomas

Director
Mathieu Levan

Mathieu Levan

Assistant Artist Manager

Representation

Worldwide general mangement with Askonas Holt

Follow Nils

Season Highlights

Oct 2025
Glyndebourne
Britten - A Midsummer Night's Dream (Oberon)
Dec 2025
Mecklenburgisches Staatstheater Schwerin
Monteverdi - L'incoronazione di Poppea (Ottone)
Mar 2026
Theater Bielefeld
Ligeti - Le Grand Macabre (Prince Go Go)
May 2026
Metropolitan Opera
Frank - El Último Sueño de Frida y Diego (Leonardo)

Video

Photos

Selected Repertoire

Benjamin

Written on Skin (The Boy / Angel 1)

Britten

A Midsummer Night's Dream (Oberon)

Cavalli

La Calisto (Endimione)

Corbett

Keine Stille ausser der des Windes (Zwitter)

Dove

Flight (Refugee)

Gluck

Orfeo ed Euridice (Orfeo)

Handel

Giolio Cesare (Tolomeo)   •   Rinaldo (Rinaldo)   •   Tolomeo (Tolomeo)   •   Agrippina (Ottone)   •   Rodelinda (Bertaido)

J. Strauss

Die Fledermaus(Prinz Orlofsky)

Kander

Chicago (Mary Sunshine)

Kusser

Adonia (Apollo)

Monteverdi

L'Orfeo (Speranza / Pastore 3 / La Musica)   •   L'incoronazione di Poppea (Ottone / Arnalta)

Mozart

Mitridate (Farnace)   •   Ascanio in Alba (Ascanio)   •   Apollo et Hyacinthus (Apollo)

Nomi / Lemberg

Don't You Nomi? (Klaus Nomi)

Plate

Romeo und Julia (Todesengel)

Purcell

Dido and Aeneas (Sorceress / Spirit)

Reimann

King Lear (Edgar)

News

Press

  • Reimann - Lear (Edgar)

    Staatsoper Hannover
    Feb 2024

    • The way the countertenor Nils Wanderer, as Edgar, mastered the extremely difficult vocalizations with seamless register changes was of outstanding quality. Wie der Countertenor Nils Wanderer als Edgar die höchst schwierigen Vokalisen mit bruchlosen Registerwechseln meisterte, das hatte herausragendes Niveau.

    • The way the countertenor Nils Wanderer, as Edgar, mastered the extremely difficult vocalizations with seamless register changes was of outstanding quality. Wie der Countertenor Nils Wanderer als Edgar die höchst schwierigen Vokalisen mit bruchlosen Registerwechseln meisterte, das hatte herausragendes Niveau. - consciously in the lyrical tenderness of the beggar Tom, modeled on an Orpheus. This poorly dressed fellow is the alter ego of the outcast Edward - both figures are enlivened with outstanding angelic articulation by Nils Wanderer. Dressed in cheap plastic bags, this singer of Tom is eye to eye with his King Lear. bewusst in der einem Orpheus nachempfundenen lyrischen Zärtlichkeit des Bettlers Tom. Dieser ärmlich gekleidete Geselle ist das Alter Ego des verstoßenen Edward – beide Figuren werde somit herausragend mit engelsgleicher Artikulation belebt durch Nils Wanderer. Gekleidet in billigen Plastiktüten macht der nicht minder zurechnungsfähige Tom seinem König Lear Konkurrenz.

  • A Midsummer Night's Dream

    Opera de Lille
    May 2022

    • Nils Wanderer, qui use avec justesse de sa voix éthérée pour peindre un roi des elfes à la rouerie aussi fantastique que froidement cruelle. [TRANSLATED} Nils Wanderer, who uses his ethereal voice to perfect effect to portray an elf king whose cunning is as fantastic as it is coldly cruel.

    • Los dos papeles centrales juntan el Oberon de Nils Wanderer, contratenor de rico timbre y voz extensa conducida con sutileza, y su reina Titania. [TRANSLATED] The two central roles bring together Nils Wanderer's Oberon, a countertenor with a rich timbre and an extensive voice conducted with subtlety, and his queen Titania.

    • Dans les rôles des personnages féériques, Nils Wanderer impressionne. Le premier déploie une voix veloutée et envoûtante en Oberon. [TRANSLATED] In the roles of the magical characters, Nils Wanderer impresses. He deploys a velvety and captivating voice in Oberon.

    • Jamais on n’avait écouté les monologues d’Oberon aussi suspendu aux lèvres du personnage dont Nils Wanderer livre une incarnation inoubliable. [TRANSLATED] Never before have we listened to Oberon's monologues so hanging on the character's lips, with Nils Wanderer delivering an unforgettable incarnation.

    • Countertenor Nils Wanderer lends Oberon his beautiful voice, dark, velvety, well deployed, rich in subtle nuances. He deploys a wide palette of colors throughout the action, with irony, tenderness, resentment, authority, magnanimity, all with remarkable pronunciation and a magnetic theatrical presence.