Axel Köhler studied violin pedagogy and singing at the Hochschule für Musik Carl Maria von Weber Dresden.
In 2001, he played the devil in Detlev Glanert's comic opera Scherz, Satire, Ironie und tiefere Bedeutung at its premiere.
In 2006, Köhler designed the title role in Cantor – Die Vermessung des Unendlichen by Ingomar Grünauer, a world premiere in which he sang as a baritone.
He also sang on the Dresden Theatre Barge, the Opera Hall and at the Rheingau Music Festival in the cabaret program Greife wacker nach der Sünde.
As a concert singer, Köhler worked with early music ensembles and conductors René Jacobs, Marcus Creed and Howard Arman.
In 2007 he brought Tom Johnson's Riemannoper to the stage of the basement theater of the Leipzig Opera House, and at the Mecklenburg State Theatre Schwerin, he directed Mozart's Don Giovanni.
In 2010, these were followed by productions of Emmerich Kálmán's Countess Maritza at the Dresden State Operetta, Abraham's The Flower of Hawaii and Verdi's Macbeth at the Halle Opera House.