Baritone Daniel Ochoa has established himself as a highly versatile opera and concert singer, in great demand on the German and international scene.
In the 2026/27 season, Daniel Ochoa can be heard in a wide-ranging repertoire of major concert and opera productions across Germany, Austria, Switzerland and Poland. Highlights include Bruckner’s "Mass in F minor" in Bern, Brahms’ "A German Requiem" in Rostock and Nuremberg, Vaughan Williams’ "A Sea Symphony" in Toruń and at the Berlin Philharmonie, and Mozart’s "Requiem" at St. Stephen’s Cathedral in Vienna. During the Advent season, Ochoa performs Bach’s "Christmas Oratorio" in Bern and with Ensemble Orlando Fribourg in Switzerland, followed in January by Bach’s cantata "Lobe den Herrn, meine Seele, BWV 143", with the J. S. Bach-Stiftung in Trogen. In Ferrara, he takes on the role of Aeneas in Purcell’s "Dido and Aeneas". The spring season focuses on major works of the Baroque and Romantic periods, including Handel’s "Messiah" in Vienna, Austria and Ljubljana, Bach’s "St Matthew Passion" with the Hamburg Ballet, the "St John Passion" at the Cologne Philharmonie, the "St Matthew Passion" at the Berlin Philharmonie and in Hanover, and C. P. E. Bach’s "Magnificat" at Hamburg’s Elbphilharmonie. Further highlights include Bach’s "B minor Mass" in Freiburg, Schumann’s "Scenes from Goethe’s Faust" at the Elbphilharmonie and the Philharmonie Luxembourg, as well as appearances at the Leipzig Bach Festival with the "St Luke Passion" and Bach’s "St Matthew Passion" in Robert Franz’s version. The season concludes with Carl Orff’s "Carmina Burana" with the NFM Wrocław.
Daniel Ochoa has worked together with internationally renowned conductors such as Herbert Blomstedt, Helmuth Rilling, Paul McCreesh, Reinhard Goebel, Hans-Christoph Rademann, Hansjörg Albrecht, Ken-David Masur, Christoph Spering, and Thomas Hengelbrock, performing with orchestras including the Leipzig Gewandhaus, the Dresden Staatskapelle, the symphony orchestras of Hamburg, Nuremberg, and Munich, the Staatskapelle in Halle, the Deutsche Radiophilharmonie, the Bamberg Symphony Orchestra, the Bremen Philharmonic Orchestra, the Orchestre de Chambre de Paris, the NDR Radio Philharmonic, the Bach Collegium Stuttgart, the MDR Symphony Orchestra, Norwegian Radio Orchestra, Dresden Philharmonic Orchestra, and the Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra, as well as early music ensembles such as Orchestra La Scintilla, Anima Eterna Brugge, the Halle Handel Festival Orchestra, Basel Chamber Orchestra, Lautten Compagney Berlin, Elbipolis Baroque Orchestra Hamburg, and the Akademie für Alte Musik Berlin.
His worldwide opera and concert career has taken him to venues including St. Thomas Church and the Gewandhaus in Leipzig, the Semperoper and Frauenkirche in Dresden, Tonhalle Düsseldorf, Alte Oper Frankfurt, Konzerthalle Bamberg, Festspielhaus Baden-Baden, Cologne Philharmonie, Berlin Philharmonie, Hamburg State Opera, the Elbphilharmonie and Laeiszhalle in Hamburg, Isarphilharmonie, Musikverein and Konzerthaus Vienna, the Grosses Festspielhaus Salzburg, Concertgebouw Bruges, Philharmonie Luxembourg, La Seine Musicale and Philharmonie de Paris, Auditorio Nacional de Música in Madrid, Palau de la Música Catalana in Barcelona, the Warsaw National Philharmonic, the International House of Music and Tchaikovsky Concert Hall in Moscow, Hitomi Memorial Hall and Bunka Kaikan Theatre in Tokyo, Izumi Hall in Osaka, Kaohsiung Concert Hall in Taiwan, Bradley Symphony Center in Milwaukee, and Linder Auditorium in Johannesburg.
Born in the GDR to a German mother and an Equatorial Guinean father, Daniel Ochoa discovered his love of singing at the age of five in the children’s radio choir in his hometown of Leipzig. His vocal studies took him to three universities (Rostock, Leipzig, Berlin); he perfected his craft with outstanding teachers such as Anthony Baldwin, Hans-Joachim Beyer, Matthias Goerne, Thomas Quasthoff, and finally Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau. Each of these teachers encouraged Daniel in a unique way to humbly put his voice at the service of the music and the word – a maxim that he still strives for in every single performance.
Over the years, Daniel Ochoa has developed a broad repertoire ranging from the Renaissance to contemporary compositions. As a Leipzig native, he feels particularly committed to the works of Johann Sebastian Bach. Ochoa is therefore in constant demand as a Bach interpreter with ensembles such as the Dresdner Kreuzchor, the Leipzig Thomanerchor, the Munich Bach Choir, the Balthasar Neumann Ensemble, the Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach Choir Hamburg and the Gaechinger Cantorey.
After initial guest engagements as Don Giovanni, Rossini-Figaro, and Ottokar (Freischütz) at independent opera houses (Dresden, Hamburg) and various municipal theatres (Altenburg/Gera, Bad Lauchstädt, Flensburg), Daniel Ochoa was a member of the Vienna Volksoper ensemble from 2012 to 2017, singing roles such as Barbiere, Giovanni, the Count in Nozze di Figaro, Marcello in La Bohème, Wildschütz-Graf (Lortzing), and the baritone part in Carmina Burana in over 20 performances. During this time, his collaboration with directors such as Brigitte Fassbaender, Achim Freyer, Marco Arturo Marelli, and Rolando Villazón provided particularly important inspiration.
The field of lieder has always been close to Daniel Ochoa’s heart because he appreciates the challenge of captivating his audience almost exclusively with vocal means from the first to the last moment and transporting them into the miniature worlds of art song. First appearances as a lieder singer at the Schumann House in Leipzig were soon followed by recitals at various festivals (Mendelssohn Festival, Max Reger Festival) and at venues such as the Leipzig Gewandhaus (Mahler’s Lieder eines fahrenden Gesellen) and the Hamburg State Opera (Mahler's Rückert-Lieder, Brahms’s Liebeslieder Waltzes). Ochoa participated in a highly acclaimed CD recording of Gregor Meyer’s arrangement of Schubert's Winterreise for baritone, piano, and mixed choir.
Over 30 CDs, some of them award-winning, document his artistic work.
- Photo: Christian Palm
- Photo: Christian Palm