Reiner Goldberg is a German opera singer (heroic tenor).

After his vocal studies at the conservatory of music "Carl Maria von Weber" in Dresden

Dresden

Dresden is the capital city of the Free State of Saxony in Germany. It is situated in a valley on the River Elbe, near the Czech border. The Dresden conurbation is part of the Saxon Triangle metropolitan area....

, Goldberg made his debut 1967 in the Saxon Theatre (Sächsische Landesbühne) in Radebeul

Radebeul

Radebeul is a town in the Elbe valley in the district of Meißen in Saxony, Germany, a suburb of Dresden. It is well-known for its viticulture, a museum dedicated to writer Karl May and a narrow gauge railway connecting Radebeul with the castle of Moritzburg and the town of Radeburg...

. A further station was the Sächsische Staatskapelle Dresden

Sächsische Staatskapelle Dresden

The Sächsische Staatskapelle Dresden is an orchestra based in Dresden, Germany founded in 1548 by Kurfürst Moritz of Saxony. It is one of the world's oldest orchestras...

 in 1973. In 1981, the tenor became a member of the Berlin State Opera

Berlin State Opera

The Staatsoper Unter den Linden is a German opera company. Its permanent home is the opera house on the Unter den Linden boulevard in the Mitte district of Berlin, which also hosts the Staatskapelle Berlin orchestra.-Early years:...

 ensemble.

At the beginning of the 1980s, Goldberg sang the important tenor parts of operas by Richard Wagner

Richard Wagner

Wilhelm Richard Wagner was a German composer, conductor, theatre director, philosopher, music theorist, poet, essayist and writer primarily known for his operas...

 in nearly all leading opera houses in Europe and worldwide.

Among them were Tannhäuser

Tannhäuser (opera)

Tannhäuser is an opera in three acts, music and text by Richard Wagner, based on the two German legends of Tannhäuser and the song contest at Wartburg...

at the Vienna State Opera

Vienna State Opera

The Vienna State Opera is an opera house – and opera company – with a history dating back to the mid-19th century. It is located in the centre of Vienna, Austria. It was originally called the Vienna Court Opera . In 1920, with the replacement of the Habsburg Monarchy by the First Austrian...

 and Bavarian State Opera

Bavarian State Opera

The Bavarian State Opera is an opera company based in Munich, Germany.Its orchestra is the Bavarian State Orchestra.- History:The opera company which was founded under Princess Henriette Adelaide of Savoy has been in existence since 1653...

 Munich, Erik (Der fliegende Holländer) at the Salzburg Easter Festival

Salzburg Easter Festival

The Salzburg Easter Festival is an annual festival of opera and classical music held in Salzburg, Austria during Easter week. Herbert von Karajan founded this festival in 1967 as a means of expanding the traditional Salzburg Festival during the summer...

 1982 and 1983 conducted by Herbert von Karajan

Herbert von Karajan

Herbert von Karajan was an Austrian orchestra and opera conductor. To the wider world he was perhaps most famously associated with the Berlin Philharmonic, of which he was principal conductor for 35 years...

 and the Bayreuther Festspiele 1990, 1991 und 1994 under Giuseppe Sinopoli

Giuseppe Sinopoli

-Biography:Sinopoli was born in Venice, Italy, and later studied at the Benedetto Marcello Conservatory in Venice under Ernesto Rubin de Cervin and at Darmstadt, including being mentored in composition with Karlheinz Stockhausen...

, Florestan, Siegfried and Tannhäuser at the Metropolitan Opera

Metropolitan Opera

The Metropolitan Opera is an opera company, located in New York City. Originally founded in 1880, the company gave its first performance on October 22, 1883. The company is operated by the non-profit Metropolitan Opera Association, with Peter Gelb as general manager...

 and as Max (Der Freischütz

Der Freischütz

Der Freischütz is an opera in three acts by Carl Maria von Weber with a libretto by Friedrich Kind. It premiered on 18 June 1821 at the Schauspielhaus Berlin...

) in the Zurich Opera

Zurich Opera

Oper Zürich is an opera company based in Zurich, Switzerland. The company gives performances in the Opernhaus Zürich which has been the company’s home for fifty years.-History:...

.

In concert, he sang in Beethoven's Ninth Symphony (Lucerne

Lucerne

Lucerne is a city in north-central Switzerland, in the German-speaking portion of that country. Lucerne is the capital of the Canton of Lucerne and the capital of the district of the same name. With a population of about 76,200 people, Lucerne is the most populous city in Central Switzerland, and...

 and Edinburgh

Edinburgh

Edinburgh is the capital city of Scotland, the second largest city in Scotland, and the eighth most populous in the United Kingdom. The City of Edinburgh Council governs one of Scotland's 32 local government council areas. The council area includes urban Edinburgh and a rural area...

) under Claudio Abbado

Claudio Abbado

Claudio Abbado, Cavaliere di Gran Croce OMRI , is an Italian conductor. He has served as music director of the La Scala opera house in Milan, principal conductor of the London Symphony Orchestra, principal guest conductor of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, music director of the Vienna State Opera,...

.
In 1995 Goldberg received the Special Music Award for the title role of Aron in a live recording of Arnold Schoenberg

Arnold Schoenberg

Arnold Schoenberg was an Austrian composer, associated with the expressionist movement in German poetry and art, and leader of the Second Viennese School...

's Moses und Aron

Moses und Aron

Moses und Aron is a three-act opera by Arnold Schoenberg with the third act unfinished. The German libretto was by the composer after the Book of Exodus.-Compositional history:...

with the Tokyo Symphony under Maestro Kazuyoshi Akiyama

Kazuyoshi Akiyama

is a Japanese conductor.-Biography:Born into a musical family, he studied piano at the Toho Gakuen School of Music, but was fascinated by the conducting activities of a fellow student, Seiji Ozawa. He decided to study conducting with Hideo Saito...

 at Suntory Hall

Suntory Hall

The Suntory Hall is a concert hall complex consisting of the "Main Hall" and the "Small Hall" located in the Ark Hills complex, near the U.S. Embassy and TV Asahi in the Akasaka district of northern Minato, a ward in Tokyo, Japan...

 in Tokyo.

Reiner Goldberg resides in Berlin.

Recordings

• L. van Beethoven: 9th Symphony/Brilliant Classic 1974/ Gewandhaus Orchestra conducted by Kurt Masur/ Soloists: R. Goldberg a.o.
• A. Schönberg: Moses und Aron/ 1976/Rundfunk-Sinfonie-Orchestra Leipzig conducted by Herbert Kegel / Soloists: Werner Haseleu, Reiner Goldberg
• R.Wagner: Parsifal / Erato 1982/ Monte Carlo Orchestra under Armin Jordan/ Soloists: R. Goldberg, W. Schöne, R. Lloyd, Y. Minton
• R.Strauss: Daphne/ EMI 1983, 1988/ Bayerischer Rundfunk Orchestra under Bernard Haitink/ Soloists: Lucia Popp, Reiner Goldberg, Kurt Moll
• R.Struass: Guntram / Hungaroton 1985 /Hungarian State Orchestra under Eve Queller/ Soloists: Reiner Goldberg, Ilona Tokody, István Gáti
• R.Wagner:Die Walküre/ EMI 1988/ Bayrischer Rundfunk Orchestra under Bernard Haitink/ Soloist: R. Goldberg, Eva Marton, Cheryl Studer, Waltraud Meier, James Morris
• R. Wagner: Siegfried / Deutsche Grammophon 1991/ Metropolitan Opera Orchestra under James Levine/ Soloists: Reiner Goldberg, James Morris, Hildegard Behrens
• R. Wagner: Götterdämmerung/ Deutsche Grammophon 1991/ Metropolitan Opera Orchestra under James Levine/ Soloists: Reiner Goldberg, Hanna Schwarz, Hildegard Behrens/ This record received the Grammy Award 1992

Sources

• Forbes, Elizabeth, "Goldberg, Reiner", Grove Music Online ed. L. Macy. Accessed 19 October 2009, (subscription access)