Franz Kalchmair is an opera

Opera

Opera is an art form in which singers and musicians perform a dramatic work combining text and musical score, usually in a theatrical setting. Opera incorporates many of the elements of spoken theatre, such as acting, scenery, and costumes and sometimes includes dance...

tic bass and interpreter of Bach

Bạch

Bạch is a Vietnamese surname. The name is transliterated as Bai in Chinese and Baek, in Korean.Bach is the anglicized variation of the surname Bạch.-Notable people with the surname Bạch:* Bạch Liêu...

 cantata

Cantata

A cantata is a vocal composition with an instrumental accompaniment, typically in several movements, often involving a choir....

s along with other sacred or clerical music. As an opera singer, he is known for portraying such humorous roles as the pig farmer in Johann Strauss

Johann Strauss II

Johann Strauss II , also known as Johann Baptist Strauss or Johann Strauss, Jr., the Younger, or the Son , was an Austrian composer of light music, particularly dance music and operettas. He composed over 500 waltzes, polkas, quadrilles, and other types of dance music, as well as several operettas...

' The Gypsy Baron

The Gypsy Baron

The Gypsy Baron is an operetta in three acts by Johann Strauss II which premiered at the Theater an der Wien on 24 October 1885. Its libretto was by the author Ignaz Schnitzer and in turn was based on Sáffi by Mór Jókai. During the composer's lifetime, the operetta enjoyed great success, second...

.

Franz Kalchmair was rasied in Thalheim bei Wels

Thalheim bei Wels

Thalheim bei Wels is a town in the Wels-Land district, Upper Austria, Austria. 11.6% of the municipality are forested, 69% are farmlands. The north to south width is 5.9 km and east to west is 5.2 km.-Subdivisions:*Bergerndorf*Edtholz*Ottstorf...

, the son of a farmer. When he was 10 years old, he was admitted to the Sankt Florian

Sankt Florian

Sankt Florian is a town in Upper Austria, Austria. It is 10 miles from Linz, with a population of 5,500 and an elevation of 296 meters above sea level.-St. Florian's Priory and basilica:...

 (Linz-Land

Linz-Land

Bezirk Linz-Land is a district of the state ofUpper Austria in Austria.- Municipalities :Towns are indicated in boldface; market towns in italics; suburbs, hamlets and other subdivisions of a municipality are indicated in small characters.*Allhaming*Ansfelden*Asten*Eggendorf im...

) as a choirboy and trained there to sing professionally.

He further developed his bass voice at the Bruckner-Konservatorium in Linz

Linz

Linz is the third-largest city of Austria and capital of the state of Upper Austria . It is located in the north centre of Austria, approximately south of the Czech border, on both sides of the river Danube. The population of the city is , and that of the Greater Linz conurbation is about...

. His first engagements were at the Landestheater Sankt Pölten

Sankt Pölten

Sankt Pölten is the capital city of the State of Lower Austria in northeast Austria. With inhabitants , it is Lower Austria's largest city...

 and the Sommerbühne Baden/Vienna. Although his singing career was interrupted when he was called back to Thalheim bei Wels to manage the family farm, his love of music guided him back to the stage years later.

He was a member of the Landestheater Linz Ensemble for over 20 years, and was a guest singer at the Vienna Volksoper

Vienna Volksoper

The Vienna Volksoper is a major opera house in Vienna, Austria. It gives about three hundred performances of twenty-five productions during an annual season running from September through June....

 under the lead of Fritz Muliar

Fritz Muliar

Fritz Muliar, born as Friedrich Ludwig Stand , was an Austrian actor who, due to his huge popularity, is often referred to by his countrymen as Volksschauspieler.- Biography :...

 and at the Opera Graz. His many other engagements included Seespiele Mörbisch under the lead of Helmut Lohner, Landestheater Salzburg, Sommerbühne Baden/Vienna, St. Pölten Landestheater, Summer theatre Steyr, and tours through Germany and Denmark.

His repertoire includes such lead bass roles as the title role in Falstaff

Falstaff

Sir John Falstaff is a fictional character who appears in three plays by William Shakespeare. In the two Henry IV plays, he is a companion to Prince Hal, the future King Henry V. A fat, vain, boastful, and cowardly knight, Falstaff leads the apparently wayward Prince Hal into trouble, and is...

, Kezal (The Bartered Bride

The Bartered Bride

The Bartered Bride is a comic opera in three acts by the Czech composer Bedřich Smetana, to a libretto by Karel Sabina. The opera is considered to have made a major contribution towards the development of Czech music. It was composed during the period 1863–66, and first performed at the...

), Osmin (Die Entführung aus dem Serail

Die Entführung aus dem Serail

Die Entführung aus dem Serail is an opera Singspiel in three acts by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. The German libretto is by Christoph Friedrich Bretzner with adaptations by Gottlieb Stephanie...

), Sarastro (The Magic Flute

The Magic Flute

The Magic Flute is an opera in two acts composed in 1791 by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart to a German libretto by Emanuel Schikaneder. The work is in the form of a Singspiel, a popular form that included both singing and spoken dialogue....

), Prince Gremin (Eugene Onegin

Eugene Onegin

Eugene Onegin is a novel in verse written by Alexander Pushkin.It is a classic of Russian literature, and its eponymous protagonist has served as the model for a number of Russian literary heroes . It was published in serial form between 1825 and 1832...

), and Baron Ochs (Der Rosenkavalier

Der Rosenkavalier

Der Rosenkavalier is a comic opera in three acts by Richard Strauss to an original German libretto by Hugo von Hofmannsthal. It is loosely adapted from the novel Les amours du chevalier de Faublas by Louvet de Couvrai and Molière’s comedy Monsieur de Pourceaugnac...

).

He was awarded the cultural gold medal for long term activities in Wels

Wels

Wels is the second largest city of the state of Upper Austria, located in the north of Austria, on the Traun River near Linz. It is not part of its surrounding Wels County , but a so-called Statutarstadt . However, Wels is the county seat of Wels-Land.- Geography :Wels is located in the...

and the ring of honor in his home town of Thalheim bei Wels.