German bass Georg Zeppenfeld, born in Attendorn, Westphalia, has been initially trained as a teacher for music and German philology, before he went on to study concert and opera singing at the Musikhochschule Detmold, and later with Hans Sotin at the Hochschule für Musik Cologne. After first engagements at the opera houses of Münster and Bonn, he joined the ensemble of the Sächsische Staatsoper Dresden (Semperoper) in 2001, which has been his artistic home ever since.

Moreover, he is a much sought-after guest at virtually all leading opera houses of Europe and the United States. His operatic repertoire includes the great roles of the Italian, but above all the German fach, including Rocco (Fidelio), Kaspar (Freischütz), King Karl (Schubert: Fierrabras), Raimondo (Lucia di Lammermoor), Zaccaria (Nabucco), Banco (Macbeth), Sparafucile (Rigoletto), Filippo II (Don Carlo), Daland (Der fliegende Holländer), Landgraf Herrmann (Tannhäuser), König Heinrich (Lohengrin), King Marke (Tristan und Isolde), Hunding (Walküre), Gurnemanz (Parsifal), Veit Pogner and Hans Sachs (Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg) as well as Baculus (Wildschütz), Gremin (Onegin), Wassermann (Rusalka), Arkel (Pelléas et Mélisande), Pimen (Boris Godunow), Peneios (Strauss: Daphne) and La Roche (Capriccio).

A key role is Sarastro in Mozart's Magic Flute, which he sang under Claudio Abbado in Baden-Baden. With this role he not only succeeded at Dresden Semperoper, but also at San Francisco Opera, the New York MET, the Vienna State Opera, at Salzburg Festival (under Nikolaus Harnoncourt), at Royal Opera House Covent Garden in London, the Zurich Opera and last not least the Bavarian State Opera. His highly acclaimed role debut as Hans Sachs in Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg at the 2019 Salzburg Easter Festival under the baton of Christian Thielemann marked a milestone in this summit role of the bass repertoire.

Since 2010 he has been a regular guest at the Bayreuth Festival, where he can be heard in the great roles of his Fach. In 2022 he will be on stage there as König Heinrich, Hunding, Daland and König Marke.

In the 22/23 season he performs on his home stage in Dresden again as Sarastro (Magic Flute), as Hans Sachs, and also in Viaggio à Reims, in the Ring and La Sonnambula. At the Vienna State Opera he will appear in the new production of Die Meistersinger as Veit Pogner let by Philippe Jordan and at the Salzburg Easter Festival as Landgrave Hermann (Tannhäuser), with Andris Nelsons conducting the Gewandhaus Orchestra.

Georg Zeppenfeld is particularly fond of concert singing. Oratorios from the Baroque to the late Romantic period have given him the opportunity to work with Pierre Boulez, Riccardo Chailly, Sir Colin Davis, Gustavo Dudamel, Daniele Gatti, Daniel Harding, Nikolaus Harnoncourt, Thomas Hengelbrock, Marek Janowski, Fabio Luisi, Lorin Maazel, Andris Nelsons, Marc Minkowski, Andris Nelsons, Antonio Pappano, Kirill Petrenko, Christian Thielemann and Franz Welser-Möst. In the current season he can be heard as Elijah with the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra under Kirill Petrenko, with Mahler's 8th Symphony at the Leipzig Gewandhaus under Andris Nelsons and with Schubert's Winterreise at the Semperoper and at the Schubertiade Hohenems, accompanied by Gerold Huber.

The singer’s varied and extensive œuvre has been documented on numerous CD and DVD releases. He also participated in many TV and radio productions of European broadcasting stations.

In 2015, Georg Zeppenfeld was appointed “Kammeränger der Sächsischen Staatsoper Dresden“.