Johannes Martin Kränzle was born in Augsburg, and is known especially for his intense music-theatre interpretations of complex characters. He is regarded as one of the leading baritones of his generation. Initially, Martin studied violin, direction in music theatre, and thereafter voice with Martin Gründler in Frankfurt. He had a permanent contract of engagement with the opera houses of Dortmund, Hannover and Frankfurt.

Martin is regularly a guest artist at the major opera houses: The Metropolitan Opera in New York, La Scala in Milan, Royal Opera House in London, National Opera of Paris, and at the Teatro Real in Madrid; also in Zurich and Geneva, in Salzburg-, Bregenz-, Glyndebourne- and Luzern Festivals, also in Berlin, Munich, Hamburg, Cologne, Stuttgart, San Francisco, Cairo, Spoleto, Tel Aviv, Tiflis and Tokyo.

Martin’s opera repertoire comprises of 120 scores and extends from Handel and Mozart, to Rossini, Verdi, Strauss and Lehar, up to and including Henze and Rihm. Dionysos’ (UA: Salzburg Festival 2010).

Martin focuses on Mozart and Wagner as much as on the Slavic repertoire of Tschaikowsky, Rimsky- Korsakov, Prokofiev and Janacek. He has re-created roles such as Wozzeck, Alberich Der Ring des Nibelungen, Amfortas Parsifal, Beckmesser Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg, Wolfram Tannhäuser, Bluebeard Bluebeard's Castle, Tomsky The Queen of Spades, Prus The Makropulous Affair, Griasnoj The Tsar’s Bride, Bolkonski War and Peace, Ford Falstaff, Sharpless Madama Butterfly, Alfonso Don Alfonso, Don Giovanni, Count Amalviva Le Nozze di Figaro, Papageno Die Zauberflöte, Eisenstein Der Fledermaus and Danilo Die lustige Witwe. Martin works with conductors such as Barenboim, Levine, Petrenko, Janowsky, Jurowsky, Luisi, Metzmacher, Pappano, Runnicles and with the stage directors Loy, Brieger, Tscherniakov, Jones, Mouchtar-Samorai, McVickar, and Wieler.

Martin often dedicates his time to the song repertoire, giving Lieder recitals and oratorio performances.

In 1997 his self- composed chamber opera, The Worm, was distinguished in a composition competition in Berlin, and the opera was consequently premiered. In addition, his cycle Songs about love composed in 2016 after Brechts love poems, received many performances allover in Europe.

Martin was a prize winner in the international voice competitions of Vercelli ( Viotti), Perpignan and Paris (Placido Domingo). Since winning the first prize in Rio de Janeiro in 1991, he is an honourable guest professor in Natal/Brazil, and also, since 2013, at the Cologne Musikhochschule.

In 2010, Martin was nominated for the German Theatre prize DER FAUST. In 2011, he was named ‘Singer of the Year’ by the poll of the OPERWELT and he was awarded the Cologne Opera Prize. Since 2014 Martin is a member of the German Academy of the Performing Arts.

With great success, Martin returned to the stage in 2016 in his debut at the Royal Opera House London in Mozart’s Cosi Fan Tutte. This year 2017, there followed performances and debuts at the National Opera of Paris (Wozzeck), with the Hamburg Elb Philharmonic (Rhinegold) and with the Bayreuth Festival (The Mastersingers of Nuremburg).

Countless DVD and CD productions document Martin’s singing career. Two Solo recordings entitled Midnight Draws Already Closer ( Ballads) and The Boundaries of Mankind including Schubert and Schumann songs, have been released. His song accompanist is Hilko Dumno.