Actor and author Michael Dangl began his theatrical career with the youth theatre group “Karawane Salzburg”. At 18, he joined the Salzburg Landestheater, followed by engagements at major German theaters from Munich to Hamburg. In 1998, Helmuth Lohner invited him to Vienna’s Theater in der Josefstadt, where he has since performed leading roles in both classical and modern repertoire. He received the European Culture Prize in 2001, and in 2023 was awarded the Raimund Ring and the honorary title of Kammerschauspieler.
He became well known to millions as the journalist Dieter West in the popular TV series Vorstadtweiber.
He has performed at prestigious festivals such as Salzburg, Reichenau, and Bregenz. His career spans film and television roles, literary readings for Austria’s Ö1 radio, and specially crafted recital programs.
His collaborations with musicians are particularly dear to him. Concert appearances include collaborations with renowned artists and ensembles such as Gidon Kremer, Jordi Savall, Rafael Fingerlos, Nicolas Altstaedt, Julia Hagen, the Kremerata Baltica, Concentus Musicus Wien, and Klangforum Wien. He has performed at prestigious venues in Vienna including the Musikverein, Konzerthaus, Theater MUTH, and Akzent, as well as at festivals like Kultursommer Semmering, Theater im Park, Kammermusikfest Lockenhaus, Styriarte Graz, Menuhin Festival Gstaad, and Gmundner Festwochen. Michael also tours with his own chanson program, Liebe ist auch ein Theater (Brel/Barbara).
As an author, he has published books and plays, including the bestseller Grado – Abseits der Pfade now in its 8th edition, and Orangen für Dostojewskij – a fictional encounter between the Russian writer and Gioacchino Rossini in Venice – in its 2nd edition. His latest novel, Der Walzermacher, about Johann Strauss, was presented during the Johann Strauss Year, for which he also contributed to an evening starring Diana Damrau at the Theater an der Wien.
In the coming season, he will perform the roles of Oberon/Theseus in Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream and Leonce in Büchner’s Leonce and Lena at the Theater in der Josefstadt, while continuing to portray Frosch and Higgins at Munich’s Gärtnerplatz Theater.
His collaborative projects with his wife, flutist Maria Fedotova, beautifully blend his literary passion with music in programs such as Casanova, Die Nachtigall, and 7 Minuten vor Weihnachten. He has also worked with Konstantin Wecker on Der Klang der ungespielten Töne at the Staatstheater am Gärtnerplatz in Munich. Since 2018, he has portrayed Henry Higgins in My Fair Lady and Frosch in Die Fledermaus (a co-production with Teatro Maggio Musicale, Florence). He performed the role of Frosch in Russian at Moscow’s Tchaikovsky Conservatory Great Hall.