Swiss tenor Raphael Wittmer has been a permanent member of the National Theatre Mannheim ensemble since 2014.

In the 2024/25 season, he will perform roles such as Don Ottavio in Don Giovanni, Flipke in Der Schmied von Gent, and Boni in Die Csárdásfürstin, among others.

His scheduled guest performances include singing the Second Jew in Salome at Teatro Massimo in Palermo in May 2025, as well as Un suivant de L’Amour and Tisiphone in Hippolyte et Aricie at Oper Schloss Waldegg in Solothurn, Switzerland, in August 2025.

During his time in Mannheim, Raphael Wittmer has portrayed an impressive range of roles, including Jaquino in Fidelio, Pedrillo in Die Entführung aus dem Serail, Count Almaviva in The Barber of Seville, Bob Boles in Peter Grimes, Brighella in Ariadne auf Naxos, Camille de Rossillon in Die lustige Witwe.

More recently, he performed as Truffaldino in Die Liebe zu drei Orangen at the Stuttgart State Opera, Don Curzio in The Marriage of Figaro and Dr. Blind in Die Fledermaus at the Hamburg State Opera, Pedrillo in Die Entführung aus dem Serail at the Grand Théâtre de la Ville de Luxembourg.

Beyond opera, Wittmer has also received acclaim for his concert performances. In 2023, he performed the arias from Bach’s St. John Passion with the Gewandhaus Orchestra, conducted by Thomaskantor Andreas Reize, at St. Thomas Church in Leipzig. He recently sang in Mendelssohn’s Lobgesang at Christuskirche Mannheim, as well as Ahab and Obadiah in Elijah with the choir and orchestra of the National Theatre Mannheim at Rosengarten Mannheim. Together with his duet partner Goran Stevanovich, Wittmer developed a unique version of Schubert’s Die schöne Müllerin for tenor and accordion, premiering at the Schwetzingen Palace in July 2024.

From 2012 to 2014, Wittmer was a member of the Plauen-Zwickau Theatre ensemble, making his debut as Ferrando in Così fan tutte, Count Almaviva in The Barber of Seville. He also performed as a tenor soloist in Haydn’s The Creation and Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony. Wittmer began his musical training with the Lucerne Boys’ Choir and as a cellist at the Lucerne School of Music. He studied voice at the music academies of Basel and Cologne, receiving scholarships from the Friedl Wald Foundation and the Marianne and Curt Dienemann Foundation. After completing his studies, he joined the International Opera Studio at Cologne Opera.