Alois Pernerstorfer

Who was Alois Pernerstorfer?

Alois Pernerstorfer was an Austrian bass-baritone

He began his training in 1933 at the Wiener Musikhochschule with Theo Lierhammer and Josef Krips and made his opera debut in 1936 in Graz singing the role of Biterolf in Tannhäuser. He sang for many years at the Vienna State Opera and the Vienna Volksoper, and was a regular performer at the Salzburg Festival, where he sang in the European premiere of Samuel Barber's Vanessa. He also sang at the New York Metropolitan Opera, the Glyndebourne Festival, La Scala, and other major European opera houses.

Pernerstorfer's first wife was the soprano Henriette Herze, prominent in operetta at the Vienna Volksoper, as was his second wife, the soprano Emmy Funk. In 1963, Alois Pernerstorfer was made a Kammersänger of Austria, and in 1977 he was awarded the Großes Ehrenzeichen by the Austrian government.