Spain and Portugal: recitals and symphonic repertorie
Celebrated for a voice that “belongs to the last of the old great masters of song” with “an almost infinite range of colours” (Süddeutsche Zeitung).
A former BBC New Generation Artist, Wigmore Hall Emerging Artist, and ECHO Rising Star, he was named Gramophone Young Artist of the Year in 2016. That year he signed with Sony Classical before beginning a multi-album partnership with Alpha Classics, whose first release, Winterreise (2021), won international acclaim.
Appl’s musical path began as a chorister with the Regensburger Domspatzen, later studying in Munich and at London’s Guildhall School of Music & Drama. Mentored by Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau, he recalls him as “an invaluable and hugely formative influence… always searching and seeking a deeper understanding of music and of life.”
An acclaimed recitalist, Appl has appeared at festivals including Ravinia, Rheingau, Edinburgh, Schubertiade Schwarzenberg and KlavierFestival Ruhr, and in concert halls from Wigmore and the Concertgebouw to the Elbphilharmonie, the Louvre, Carnegie Hall, Sydney Opera House and Shanghai Symphony Hall. Significant orchestral partners include the Royal Concertgebouw, Oslo Philharmonic, Munich Philharmonic, Leipzig Gewandhaus, NHK Symphony, Philadelphia Orchestra and Staatskapelle Dresden, working with conductors such as Mäkelä, Nézet-Séguin and Thielemann. He was Artist in Residence with the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic in 2024–25.
On the opera stage, Appl recently performed Papageno Die Zauberflöte at the Hamburgische Staatsoper and Opéra Rouen, made his role and house debut as Harlequin Ariadne auf Naxos at Gran Teatre del Liceu Barcelona and looks forward to his upcoming house and role debut at the Teatro Real Madrid as Mercutio Roméo et Juliette.
Appl’s discography includes Lines of Life and For Dieter (2025), The Christmas Album (2024), Forbidden Fruit, Schubert Lieder with orchestra, and his Sony debut Heimat, winner of the Prix Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau.
Beyond the stage, he has starred in a filmed Winterreise (BBC4/SRF), presented BBC Radio 3’s A Singer’s World, and appeared in Breaking Music (a film that celebrates both Argentinian Tango and German Lied traditions). Benjamin is Professor of German Song at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama.
