Max Emanuel Cencic is one of the world’s most fascinating and versatile artists who is committed to the rediscovery and performance of 18th century music.

The Austrian countertenor, director and artistic director of the Bayreuth Baroque Opera Festival and Parnassus Arts Productions Max Emanuel Cencic owes his place at the top of the international baroque opera scene to his versatility and fascinating power. He was honoured by the French Ministry of Culture as Chevalier dans l’Ordre des Arts et des Lettres for his artistic work and received the 2021 German Record Critics’ Honour Award in the “Classical” category for his life’s work.

From 1986 to 1992, Max Emanuel Cencic was a member and soloist with the Vienna Boys’ Choir. He has sung on the biggest stages, including the Vienna State Opera, La Scala in Milan, the Opéra de Paris, the Teatro Real in Madrid, the Liceu in Barcelona, the State Operas in Berlin and Munich as well as in the most important concert halls, including the Musikverein Vienna, Vienna Konzerthaus, Carnegie Hall New York, Konzerthaus Berlin, Concertgebouw Amsterdam, Barbican Centre London and Suntory Hall Tokyo.

He co-founded the Bayreuth Baroque Opera Festival in 2020, realising a vision that has been with him for over twenty years: a globally unique baroque festival in the breathtaking atmosphere of the Margravial Opera House in Bayreuth (UNESCO World Heritage Site). The festival is an immense public success: 1,000,000 visitors worldwide watch the online broadcasts of the sold-out Bayreuth performances every year. In the fifth edition of the festival, Max Emanuel Cencic presented his interpretation of the forgotten masterpiece Ifigenia in Aulide by Nicola Antonio Porpora and also played the role of Agamennone. So far, Max Emanuel Cencic has been responsible for the new productions of Nicola Antonio Porpora’s Carlo il Calvo, in which he took on the role of Lottario, Leonardo Vinci’s Alessandro nell’Indie, George Frideric Handel’s Flavio, Rè de` Longobardi or Nicola Antonio Porpora’s Polifemo. Carlo il Calvo and Alessandro nell’Indie were honoured by the French magazine Forum Opéra as “Best Opera Production of the Year” 2020 and 2022 respectively. Carlo il Calvo and Polifemo were also released as internationally award-winning recordings on the Parnassus Arts Productions label. In January 2024, Bayreuth Baroque received the prize for best festival at the Oper! Awards in Amsterdam. On 10 September 2022, Max Cencic celebrated his 40th anniversary on stage at the Margravial Opera House in Bayreuth, where he gave a performance as part of the third edition of Bayreuth Baroque.

As artistic director of Parnassus Arts Productions, Max Emanuel Cencic is also responsible for the conception, direction and performance of important Italian Baroque works, including the sensational rediscovery of Leonardo Vinci’s last opera Artaserse, which was also released on CD and DVD. In 2015, he succeeded in rediscovering another operatic treasure with Johann Adolf Hasse’s Siroe, Re di Persia. This was followed by a European tour and a CD release on Decca Classics. In addition to the more than 70 recordings that Max Emanuel Cencic has released, the video documentaries of his spectacular productions, which he has created in co-operation with broadcasters such as Mezzo TV, Bayerischer Rundfunk and arte Concert, have also generated great enthusiasm.

Max Emanuel Cencic has also made a name for himself internationally as a director beyond the Bayreuth Baroque Opera Festival. He has staged productions at the 2019 Salzburg Festival, the Opéra de Lausanne, the Hessisches Staatstheater Wiesbaden, the Opera Royal in Versailles and the Badisches Staatstheater as part of the International Handel Festival, among others.