Bass-baritone Werner Van Mechelen studied at the Lemmens Institute in Leuven with Roland Bufkens. He participated in the masterclasses of Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau, Elisabeth Schwarzkopf, Robert Holl, Mitsuko Shirai, Hartmut Höll and Malcolm King. Van Mechelen has a particular predilection for the Lied genre. Beside the great Lied cycles – Schubert, Schumann, Mahler – he sings lesser-known repertoire as well. Van Mechelen performs with the pianists Lucas Blondeel, Jozef De Beenhouwer and Eric Schneider.

His opera repertoire includes Mozart, Verdi, Puccini, Wagner, Richard Strauss, Berg and Zemlinsky, his concert repertoire Bach, Handel, Mozart, Beethoven, Brahms, Elgar and Fauré. Van Mechelen has sung under the baton of conductors such as Sigiswald Kuijken, Ton Koopman, Marc Minkowski, Hartmut Haenchen, Jaap Van Zweeden, Lothar Koenigs, Friedemann Layer, Antonio Pappano, Stefan Soltesz and Jeffrey Tate.

(photo © Vic Pooters)