Ferdinand Bothmer was born in Munich. While a student of German philology and philosophy in Munich and later in Vienna, he worked both as assistant director and as extra at the Bavarian State Opera in Munich and at festival productions in Bregenz and Salzburg. In 1992 he enrolled in music theatre direction at the University of Music and Performing Arts in Vienna, receiving his Master of Arts there in 1997. In addition he studied voice from 1995 to 1999 and attended complementary studies in Lied and Oratorio with Charles Spencer in 1997 - 2002, but did not complete either course of studies, choosing instead to pursue professional engagements. Following this, Ferdinand Bothmer began private vocal studies with Nicolai Gedda, Michael Pabst, Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau and Vincenzo Bello. From 1999 to 2007 the artist was an ensemble member of the Wiener Volksoper, appearing in roles such as Szymon (Der Bettelstudent), Camille (Die Lustige Witwe), Alfred (Die Fledermaus), Tamino (Die Zauberflöte), Don Ottavio (Don Giovanni), Tito (La Clemenza 

di Tito), Mazal (The Excursions of Mr. Broucek), and Don Ramiro (La Cenerentola). In 2008 he gave an acclaimed performance as Almaviva in a new production of Il Barbiere di Siviglia. Moreover, the tenor was invited to Innsbruck, Leipzig, and the Seefestspiele Mörbisch 2002, where he played the role of Edwin (Die Csárdásfürstin). In the 2002/03 season he sang Jaquino (Fidelio) at the Washington Opera and later recreated the same role at La Scala with Riccardo Muti. He débuted as Tamino in 2003 at the Zürich opera under Adam Fischer, and also in 2005 at the Théâtre de la Monnaie in Brussels. In the same year he gave Almaviva at the Tokyo Opera. In 2006 he appeared as Châteauneuf (Zar und Zimmermann) in Düsseldorf and Hamburg. During the same season he gave his début as Idomeneo at the Staatstheater Wiesbaden (cond. Marc Piollet). At the Rossini Festival in Pesaro in 2006, he appeared in Mozart's Die Schuldigkeit des ersten Gebots and returned the following year in the title role of Rossini's Otello, followed by Pilade (Ermione) under the direction of Roberto Abbado. In November of 2008, Ferdinand Bothmer toured Japan with the Pesaro production of Otello. In the same year, he débuted as Léopold (La Juive) in a new production at the Stuttgart opera; with this role he also performed in the season opening at the Wiener Staatsoper, meeting with great success. Shortly afterwards he also sang Almaviva in Vienna. In 2009 Ferdinand Bothmer could be heard as Tamino in Stuttgart, interpreting Schubert's Winterreise in Klagenfurt and as Narraboth, a role he created for the first time at the Festival di Canarias. In 2010 he sang in the world premiere of Luigi Cherubini's Koukourgi at the Klagenfurt theatre and appeared as Giasone in Johann Simon Mayr's Medea in Corinto at the Bavarian State Opera with Ivor Bolton conducting. He returned to Stuttgart in 2011 as Max (Der Freischütz) and Erik (Der Fliegende Holländer). Ferdinand Bothmer toured Spain in 2012 singing Pollione in Norma with conductor Fabio Biondi and his Baroque ensemble Europa Galante, with whom he also performed Pergolesi's Il transito di San Giuseppe at the Festival Misteria Paschalia in Cracow. In 2013 the artists reunited for Bach's St. Matthew Passion at the Maggio Musicale Fiorentino and Haydn's Philomenis und Baucis in Monte Carlo. The tenor sang in Leo Fall's Die Dollarprinzessin with Ulf Schirmer conducting the Bavarian Radio Orchestra, as well as in Honegger's Jeanne d'Arc au bûcher at the Gärtnerplatztheater in Munich. Moreover, 2013 saw him as Lohengrin in Vilnius and Bratislava, in the world premiere of Stefan Pfeiffer's Das Ende der Unschuld in Hamburg, and back at the Gärtnerplatztheater as Jupiter in Händel's Semele. In 2014 Ferdinand Bothmer expanded his repertoire with Gunther (Die Feen) in Leipzig, Manrico at the Latvian National Opera and Harald, the leading tenor role in Dvořák's early opera Alfred, which was performed for the first time since 1938 at the Dvořák Festival in Prague. In 2015 he was cast as Paul (Die tote Stadt) at the Staatsoper Hamburg and Assad (Die Königin von Saba) in Freiburg. Since 2009, the tenor has worked closely with the Tiroler Festspiele in Erl and its artistic director Gustav Kuhn. At this festival, he gave his début in several roles by Wagner (Erik, Lohengrin, Walther von der Vogelweide) and Verdi (Manrico, Alfredo, Zamoro in Alzira). In the festival's Mozart/da Ponte cycle he appeared as Don Ottavio and Don Basilio. In the 2014 summer festival season he sang both Loge and Froh in Das Rheingold, followed by Ferrando (Così fan tutte) in the winter festival. In 2015 he débuted in Erl as Walther von Stolzing. He was invited to sing the title role in Berlioz' Benvenuto Cellini and Archangel Michael in Walter Braunfels' Jeanne d'Arc at the Cologne opera in 2016. In the same year, he returned to Bratislava as Lohengrin and débuted as Arnold in Guglielmo Tell at the Tiroler Festspiele in Erl, where he also gave Lohengrin in 2017. Most recently, Ferdinand Bothmer has appeared as Renaud in Gluck's Armide at the Staatstheater Mainz. In 2018 he made his debut of the title role of Wagner’s Parsifal and as Pirro of Rossini’s Ermione at the Tiroler Festspiel Erl and sang the part of Offizier in Hindemith’s Cardillac at the Maggio Musicale Fiorentino under the baton of Fabio Luisi. In 2019 he made his debut as Hagenbach in Catalani’s La Wally at the theatre of Bolzano. In summer 2019 he sang Parsifal, Radames (Aida) and Stolzing (Wagner „Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg) at the Tiroler Festspiele Erl. In 2020 he sang the part of Stolzing (Wagner „Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg) for N2025 (Capital for culture in Europe) in Nürnberg. In 2021 he made his debut as Fidelio (Beethoven „Fidelio“) at the LechClassics- Festival/ Austria. He sang the part of Mime (Wagner“Das Rheingold) at the Swerdlowsk Philharmonic Orchestra Jekaterinburg/RUS) Upcoming events: - 2022 : Brahms „Rinaldo“ with The National Philharmonic Society of Lithuania 2022 November 25th in Kaunas and 26th in Vilnius. - 2024: Opera Oviedo: Hindemith „Cardillac“- Der Offizier. Ferdinand Bothmer regularly performs concert repertoire by composers such as Händel, Mozart, Beethoven, Rossini, Bach and Mendelssohn and has collaborated with artists including Helmuth Rilling, Enoch zu Guttenberg, Andreas Spering, Ottavio Dantone, Thomas Hengelbrock, Alberto Zedda, Fabio Biondi and Europa Galante. In 2008, Naxos Records released as part of its Schubert Lied Edition a solo album featuring Ferdinand Bothmer, accompanied by Ulrich Eisenlohr. At present, the singer is responsible for the publication of a new complete edition of Liszt lieder, for which he has also recorded a CD with pianist Charles Spencer. His work on this project includes research for a new critical sheet music edition and the redaction of an accompanying book. The tenor has been teaching privately since 2008, as Head of the voice academy at the Tiroler Festspiele Erl and has a professorship for Classical Singing at the Gustav Mahler Privatuniversität Klagenfurt.