Franz-Josef Selig is internationally recognized as one of the most renowned singers of serious bass roles such as Gurnemanz, King Marke, Sarastro, Rocco, Osmin, Daland, Fiesco, and Fasolt. He has performed at all major opera houses worldwide, including the Bavarian State Opera, the 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 the Bayreuth, Baden-Baden, and Salzburg Festivals and the Festival d’Aix-en-Provence. Prominent orchestras and conductors have been and continue to be his partners, including Christian Thielemann, Sir Simon Rattle, Marek Janowski, Zubin Mehta, Semyon Bychkov, Riccardo Muti, Yannick Nézet-Séguin, Antonio Pappano, Philippe Jordan, Daniel Harding, and many others.

The artist initially completed his studies in church music at the State University of Music in Cologne before switching to the vocal class of Claudio Nicolai. He began his career as an ensemble member at the Aalto Theatre in Essen for six years. Since then, Franz-Josef Selig has worked as a freelance singer. As in every season, numerous international opera projects are on his schedule, including Wagner's The Flying Dutchman (Daland) at the Palau de les Arts Reina Sofia in Valencia and the Bavarian State Opera Munich, as well as Mozart's The Magic Flute (Sarastro) at the Vienna State Opera.

The 2024/25 season begins for the artist with Bruckner’s Te Deum on a Germany tour with the SWR Symphony Orchestra under the baton of Pablo Heras-Casado. At the Isarphilharmonie, he will sing King Marke in a concert performance of Act 2 of Wagner’s Tristan und Isolde with the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra under the baton of Sir Simon Rattle. Additionally, he will perform as Gurnemanz in a concert version of Parsifal under the baton of Vasily Petrenko in Oslo. Lieder evenings will take him to Brussels with Inge Spinette and to the Teatro de la Zarzuela in Madrid with Gerold Huber.

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) as well as with Marek Janowski and the Rundfunk-Sinfonieorchester Berlin (Pentatone). The DVD of the production Der Ring des Nibelungen (DG, Metropolitan Opera New York) featuring 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 also been released. Deutsche Grammophon has recordings of Mozart’s The Abduction from the Seraglio and The Magic Flute under the baton of Yannick Nézet-Séguin. On his CD Prometheus (Label AVI), accompanied by Gerold Huber, he brings together songs by Schubert, Wolf, and Strauss.