The young bass-baritone Alexander Grassauer received his first vocal training with Sigrid Rennert in Bruck an der Mur. He went on to study with Prof. Karlheinz Hanser and in the Lied class of Prof. Florian Boesch at the University of Music and Performing Arts Vienna. He gained important artistic inspiration from masterclasses with Ramon Vargas, Robert Holl and KS Elīna Garanča.
Grassauer began his operatic career with roles such as Masetto in Don Giovanni at the Stadttheater Baden near Vienna, the Marquis in La Traviata at the Klosterneuburg Festival, and Figaro in Le nozze di Figaro at the Schönbrunn Palace Theater. He toured with Teatro alla Scala as the Speaker in Die Zauberflöte in Shanghai and performed Frank in Die Fledermaus at Deutsche Oper am Rhein. From 2019 to 2024, he was a member of the ensemble at the Staatstheater am Gärtnerplatz in Munich, where his roles included Masetto, Leporello, Don Basilio (Il barbiere di Siviglia), Alidoro (La Cenerentola), Monterone (Rigoletto), Count Walter (Luisa Miller), and Frank (Die Fledermaus).
In the 2024/25 season, Grassauer appeared as Don Basilio at the Semperoper Dresden, as Dulcamara in L’elisir d’amore at the Gärtnerplatztheater, and in Gottfried von Einem’s opera Der Prozess at the Wiener Kammeroper. He made his debut at the Bayreuth Festival as Hermann Ortel in Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg under Daniele Gatti and as Melot in Tristan und Isolde under the baton of Semyon Bychkov.
The 2025/26 season sees him return to the Gärtnerplatztheater in L’elisir d’amore and Hänsel und Gretel. As Don Fernando in Beethoven’s Fidelio, he will appear at the Bavarian State Opera and at the Beethoven Easter Festival in Warsaw. He also returns to the Semperoper Dresden for a new production of Luigi Nono’s Il cappello di paglia di Firenze and once again as the Speaker in Die Zauberflöte. A particular highlight of the season is his return to the Bayreuth Festival, where he will sing Donner in Das Rheingold under the musical direction of Christian Thielemann.
In addition to his work on the opera stage, Alexander Grassauer is a sought-after concert soloist. He has performed Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony in Bangkok, Lisbon and at the Großes Festspielhaus in Salzburg, Bach’s St John Passion and Handel’s Messiah at the Wiener Konzerthaus, Mendelssohn’s St Paul in the Golden Hall of the Vienna Musikverein, and Mozart’s Requiem at concerts in Germany and Italy. As a “Young Talent” of the Wiener Konzerthaus, he was featured in several projects during the 2024/25 season. In 2025/26, his performances there will include Haydn’s Missa in tempore belli, Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony under Dima Slobodeniouk, and Franz Schmidt’s The Book with Seven Seals conducted by Fabio Luisi. Alexander Grassauer will make his debut with the Gewandhausorchester Leipzig performing Mendelssohn’s Walpurgisnacht under the baton of Andris Nelsons. He will also sing Mozart’s Requiem in Porto, Monte Carlo and Vienna. Another highlight is his appearance in Milan with Brahms’s Ein deutsches Requiem. He will also perform as a soloist at the anniversary concert of the Internationale Meistersinger Akademie in Neumarkt.
Alexander Grassauer is also deeply committed to Lied. He is a prizewinner of the International Hugo Wolf Lied Competition in Stuttgart and received the first prize of the “Zukunftsstimmen” initiative founded by KS Elīna Garanča. In the 2025/26 season, he will give recitals in Stuttgart and Nuremberg.
Grassauer is a winner of numerous international competitions, including the Emmerich Smola Prize of SWR (Young Opera Stars 2025), the Hariclea Darclée Competition in Romania, the International Brahms Competition, the Ferruccio Tagliavini Competition, and the Otto Edelmann Competition in Vienna, where he received the Young Artist Award.