Renowned bass Tareq Nazmi studied at the University of Music and Performing Arts Munich under Edith Wiens and Christian Gerhaher, and received private instruction from Hartmut Elbert. He began his career at the Opera Studio of the Bavarian State Opera, where he remained a member of the ensemble until 2016.
With his distinctive portrayals, Tareq Nazmi has established himself as a sought-after singer on international opera stages. Milestones in his career include Sarastro at the Salzburg Festival 2022—after achieving an international breakthrough in 2021 as the Speaker in The Magic Flute—and his debut as King Heinrich in Wagner’s Lohengrin at the Vienna State Opera. At the 2024 Salzburg Easter Festival, he appeared as Alvise in La Gioconda under Antonio Pappano. Following his debut at the Grand Théâtre de Genève, he sang Gurnemanz in Wagner’s Parsifal at the Bavarian State Opera and the Tokyo Spring Festival 2025—a role that has become one of his signature parts. In the summer of the same year, he returned to the Salzburg Festival as Banco in Verdi’s Macbeth, directed by Krzysztof Warlikowski. Other notable roles include Ferrando in Verdi’s Il trovatore at the Bavarian State Opera and Sarastro with the Cleveland Orchestra under Franz Welser-Möst.
In the 2025/26 season, Tareq Nazmi will continue to appear in major roles at leading opera houses. He will perform as the Commendatore in Mozart’s Don Giovanni and as Rocco in a new production of Beethoven’s Fidelio at the Vienna State Opera. In Berlin, he will portray Zaccaria in Verdi’s Nabucco at the Staatsoper Unter den Linden. In Tokyo, he makes his debut as Daland in Wagner’s The Flying Dutchman, again conducted by Marek Janowski with the NHK Symphony Orchestra.
In January 2026, he will tour the United States with Verdi’s Messa da Requiem, performing in cities including Cleveland, New York, Miami, and Naples. In Haydn’s The Creation, he sings the bass part of Raphael under Joana Mallwitz with the Konzerthausorchester Berlin, a project to be recorded for Deutsche Grammophon. Franz Schmidt’s The Book with Seven Seals will bring him to Hamburg and Dortmund with the NDR Elbphilharmonie Orchestra under Manfred Honeck. In May 2026, he returns to Vienna to perform the bass solo in Mahler’s Symphony No. 8, this time under Andris Nelsons with the Vienna Philharmonic.
Tareq Nazmi is a highly regarded concert soloist, with a repertoire ranging from Bach, Haydn, Mozart, and Dvořák to Brahms and Mahler. He has worked with ensembles including the Orchestre de Paris (Daniel Harding), Orquestra Gulbenkian (Alain Altinoglu), WDR Symphony Orchestra (Jukka-Pekka Saraste), Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra, Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra (Manfred Honeck), and the Balthasar Neumann Ensemble (Thomas Hengelbrock). Other important projects have included Verdi’s Requiem with the Tonhalle Orchestra Zurich under John Eliot Gardiner, tours with Teodor Currentzis, concerts with the Berlin Philharmonic under Daniel Barenboim, Beethoven’s Missa solemnis under Kirill Petrenko, and appearances with the Munich Philharmonic (Philippe Herreweghe) and the Berlin Radio Symphony Orchestra (Vladimir Jurowski).
He is also a regular presence on international stages as a lieder singer—recently performing with Gerold Huber at the Schubertiade in Hohenems, in Munich, Cologne, and London’s Wigmore Hall. In 2023, the duo performed Schubert’s Winterreise at the Tokyo Spring Festival.
