Franz-Josef Selig is one of the most renowned singers internationally for serious bass roles such as Gurnemanz, King Marke, Sarastro, Rocco, Osmin, Daland, Fiesco, and Fasolt. He is at home in all the world's major opera houses (including the Bavarian State Opera, Vienna State Opera, La Scala in Milan, Teatro Real Madrid, the Paris opera houses, and the Metropolitan Opera in New York) as well as at prestigious festivals such as Bayreuth, Baden-Baden, Salzburg, and Aix-en-Provence. He has worked and continues to work with renowned orchestras and conductors, including Christian Thielemann, Sir Simon Rattle, Marek Janowski, Zubin Mehta, Semyon Bychkov, Riccardo Muti, Yannick Nezét-Séguin, Manfred Honeck, Antonio Pappano, Philippe Jordan, Daniel Harding, and many others.
The artist first completed his studies in church music at the Cologne University of Music before transferring to Claudio Nicolai's university singing class. He initially spent six years as a member of the ensemble at the Aalto Theater in Essen. Since then, Franz-Josef Selig has been working as a freelance singer.
In the 2026/27 season, the artist will appear with the Budapest Festival Orchestra under the baton of Iván Fischer in Budapest and on tour, as well as at the Bavarian State Opera as Sarastro in Mozart’s Die Zauberflöte. He will also perform the roles of the Commendatore in Don Giovanni and Osmin in Die Entführung aus dem Serail there. As Arkel, he will appear in concert performances of Debussy’s Pelléas et Mélisande with the Symphonieorchester des Bayerischen Rundfunks under Sir Simon Rattle. As Rocco in Fidelio, he will perform with the Mahler Chamber Orchestra under Joana Mallwitz at the Festspielhaus Baden-Baden and with the ensemble of the Vienna State Opera under Adam Fischer on a guest appearance in Monte-Carlo. He will perform Beethoven’s Missa solemnis under Petr Popelka in Paris, as well as Mozart’s Requiem with the Munich Philharmonic under Manfred Honeck in Munich.
Numerous CD and DVD productions document the artistic range of this exceptional singer—from Bach's St. Matthew Passion to Mozart's The Magic Flute (Royal Opera London/Sir Colin Davis), Don Giovanni (Vienna State Opera/Riccardo Muti), Le nozze di Figaro (Salzburg Festival/Nikolaus Harnoncourt), The Abduction from the Seraglio(Gran Teatre del Liceu Barcelona/Ivor Bolton/Christoph Loy) to L'incoronazione di Poppea (Gran Teatre del Liceu Barcelona/David Alden/Harry Bicket).
He has recorded the role of Gurnemanz in Wagner's Parsifal with Christian Thielemann (Vienna State Opera, released by Deutsche Grammophon) and with Marek Janowski and the Berlin Radio Symphony Orchestra (Pentatone). The DVD of the production The Ring of the Nibelung (DG, produced by the Metropolitan Opera New York) with Franz-Josef Selig as Fasolt won the Grammy Award for Best Opera Recording in 2013. A DVD of The Flying Dutchman from the Bayreuth Festival (Thielemann/Gloger) has now been released. Deutsche Grammophon has released recordings of Mozart's The Abduction from the Seraglio and The Magic Flute conducted by Yannick Nezét-Séguin. On his CD “Prometheus“ (AVI label), accompanied by Gerold Huber, he combines songs by Schubert, Wolf, and Strauss.
