Michael Bohnen

Franz Michael Bohnen (2 May 1887 – 26 April 1965) was a German bass baritone opera singer and actor.

[2] He trained in opera singing at the Hochschule für Musik Köln with composer and conductor Fritz Steinbach and Rudolf Schulz-Dornburg[2] and with a private tutor, making his debut in 1910 at the Stadttheater Düsseldorf.

[3] In 1925, he played Baron Ochs von Lerchenau in a film of the opera Der Rosenkavalier.

[4] After the war, Bohnen joined the Metropolitan Opera in New York in 1922, and spent 1933 to 1934 in Buenos Aires.

His time as intendant at the Städtischen Oper Berlin had to come to an end due to an accusation by his pupil, the tenor Hans Beirer, during the denazification process.

Michael Bohnen as intendent of the Deutsche Oper Berlin , 1945
Michael Bohnen (left) with Elisabeth Rethberg and Lauritz Melchior en route to New York City , 1932