About

The South African born Dramatic Baritone Jaco Venter established himself as a prominent Operatic performer in Germany and internationally over the past two decades building a huge Opera repertoire in a wide range of styles and languages. From the Donizetti and Verdi Belcanto roles to the Dramatic Wagner and Puccini parts, from the comic Buffo to the serious Villains. Often hailed as a „stage animal“ and „singing actor“, Mr. Venter is already a household name in major companies such as Staatstheater Stuttgart, Staatstheater Mainz and Staatstheater Augsburg.

After studying Theology at the Freestate University in Bloemfontein and acting in Pretoria, Venter received his Bachelors in Opera at the Tshwane University of Technology South Africa as well as a Masters in Music and Performing Arts from the San Francisco Conservatory of Music in the USA. He sang his first Mozart’s „Don Giovanni“ in Berkley as well as John Proctor in Robert Ward‘s „The Crucible“ under the tutelage of the composer himself.

The Baritone made His professional debut in his home country South Africa as Ping in Puccini’s „Turandot“ with Gérard Korsten and soon thereafter Guglielmo in Mozart’s „Cosi fan Tutte“ with the State Opera in Pretoria. Eversince he also frequently appeared in all the other major companies; Johannesburg, Roodepoort, Cape Town and Spier. 

Jaco Venter made his German debut as Giorgio Germont in Verdi‘s „La Traviata“ in Pforzheim where he also sang Nick Shadow in Strawinsky‘s „The Rakes Progress“ and the Beast in „La Belle et la Bête“ of Phillip Glass as well as his first Alfio in Mascagni‘s „Cavalleria Rusticana“, Peter in Humperdinck‘s „Hänsel und Gretel“ and „Rigoletto“.

Mr. Venter joined the ensemble of the Nationaltheater Mannheim from 2004 to 2011 where he enjoyed successes in an extensive range of styles. From Verdi’s leading-and titleroles „Simone Boccanegra“, „Rigoletto“, „Macbeth“, Jago in „Otello“, Amonasro in „Aida“, Rodrigo di Posa in „Don Carlo“, Conte di Luna in „Il Trovatore“ and Renato in „Un Ballo in Maschera“ to Puccini‘s charachters Scarpia in“Tosca“, the titelrole in „Gianni Schicchi“  and Michele in „Il Tabarro“. Also Tonio in Leoncavallo’s „I Pagliacci“, Barnaba in Ponchielli‘s „La Gioconda“, Enrico in Donizetti‘s „Lucia di Lammermoor“, Escamillo in Bizet‘s „Carmen“, Starek in Janacek’s „Jenūfa“, Rangoni in Mussorgsky‘s „Boris Godunov“ the Police Chief in Shostakovich‘s „Lady Macbeth of Msensk“ etc. During this time he shared the stage with acclaimed artists like Edita Gruberova as Duke of Nottingham in Donizetti‘s „Roberto Devereux“ and Marrcello Alvarez and Ruth Ann Swenson in Puccini’s „La Boheme“.

In 2011 Venter joined the ensemble of the Badisches Staatstheater Karlsruhe where he expanded his repertoire into the Wagner roles such as Friedrich von Telramund in „Lohengrin“ and all three Alberich‘s  in „Das Rheingold“, „Siegfried“ and „Götterdämmerung“ in the new ‚combined Production‘ of „Der Ring des Nibelungen“ with David Hermann, Thorleifur Örn Arnarsson, Tobias Kratzer and Yuval Sharon as directors. During this period he made his debut as Balstrode in Brittin’s „Peter Grimes“ and also did the Long awaited world Premiere of Hans Kraza‘s „Verlobung im Traum“ after Dostoyevsky‘s „Uncle‘s dream“ performing a highly acclaimed rendition of „Der Fürst“.

The baritone‘s career includes such highlights as performing Sharpless in Puccini‘s „Madama Butterfly“ with Dan Ettinger and numerous other roles with Axel Kober. He also performed with renowned artists like Linda Watson, Violetta Urmana, Kurt Rydl, Anja Harteros, Roberto Saccà, Deborah Polaski. 

As freelance singer he made his debut in the titelrole of Richard Wagner‘s „Der Fliegende Holländer“ in Cape Town South Africa and Staatstheater Braunschweig as well as Staatstheater Memmingen. Since then he received massive acclaim in Aarhus, Aalborg, Odense and Royal Opera Copenhagen Denmark where he performed his 90th performance of the titelrole in Verdi‘s „Rigoletto“. He also sang Klingsor in Wagner‘s Bühnenweihfestspiel „Parsifal“ with the Polish National Radio Symphony Orchestra, Kattowitz in Warsaw Poland. The same role he also had the honor to perform in Karlsruhe in the Keith Warner production.

Mr. Venter most recently added the role of Alban Berg‘s „Wozzeck“ to his wide repertoire in the Maxim Didenko production.