Andreas Winkler

How two passions became a festival

Andreas Winkler is a tenor — for 15 years, Zurich Opera House was his artistic home, with engagements at houses including Munich, Paris, London and Tokyo. For just as long, a second passion has accompanied him: whisky. Combining these two worlds gave rise to the idea for the Whisky & Music Festival Zürich — a place where the pleasure of whisky and Irish-Scottish music support each other, without either pushing to the front. Whisky itself always stays at the centre: the rarities, the bottlers' stories, discovering something new together in the glass. The music is the atmosphere around it — not a concert with whisky on the side, but a whisky experience with a musical soul.

From the opera stage to the whisky glass

Andreas Winkler's musical career began at the age of nine as a boy soloist in his hometown of Innsbruck. After graduating with distinction in voice from the Cologne University of Music, engagements took him to renowned opera and concert houses across Europe and beyond. For 15 years, Zurich Opera House became his artistic home, before he turned to new projects as a freelance singer in 2016 — among them his own whisky-tasting series „Whisky & Music", from which the festival later emerged.

As a whisky expert, he shares his knowledge in an entertaining, personal way: the history and production of single malt Scotch whisky, the significance of cask maturation and storage, the art of mindful tasting. Combined with his stage presence and the Irish-Scottish songs of his band, this is what defines the festival.