Gunther Emmerlich was born during the final year of World War II in Eisenberg, a small town between Erfurt and Leipzig on 18 September 1944.

[1] His father never returned from the war and his mother died of multiple sclerosis at the age of 49 when he was eleven, although Emmerlich believed that an underlying cause was continued grief following the death of her husband.

[1] Upon ending this training, he switched to music, studying to be an opera singer between 1967 and 1972 at the Franz Liszt Academy in Weimar,[1] with Hans Kremers and Eleonore Elstermann.

[1] He also appeared as Rocco in Beethoven's Fidelio, Geronimo in Cimarosa's Il matrimonio segreto, and Dulcamara in Donizetti's L'elisir d'amore, successful not only in singing but also acting.

[4] Emmerich performed as a guest, often with the ensemble of the State Opera, such as Alfonso in Mozart's Così fan tutte in Amsterdam in 1988.