Casting Consultant

Anton Josef Gradsack

After completing his studies, Toni Gradsack was initially appointed head of the casting office at the Stadttheater Klagenfurt. He then spent thirteen successful years working as head of casting and personal assistant to the artistic director of the Bregenz Festival. From 1995, he held the position of head of casting at the Zurich Opera House. From 2012, Toni Gradsack became head of the casting office and director of the Young Singer Project at the Salzburg Festival, and worked for Cecilia Bartoli at the Salzburger Pfingstfestspiele. From 2014, he worked as casting manager at La Scala in Milan. In 2019, he took on the same role at the Maggio Musicale Fiorentino.

Toni Gradsack has also made a name for himself in discovering and nurturing young singing talent. He has taught masterclasses at, amongst others, the Zurich University of the Arts, in Shanghai, at the Academy of the Maggio Musicale Fiorentino, the Mozarteum in Salzburg, the Hebrew University of Jerusalem and the Academy in Trento. He is also in high demand as a jury member for numerous international competitions.

Great conductors and singers left their mark on his life; he worked closely with conductors such as Nello Santi, Marcello Viotti, Ingo Metzmacher, William Christie, Marc Minkowski, Manfred Honeck, Georges Prêtre, Franz Welser-Möst, Daniele Gatti, Daniel Harding, Myung Whun Chung, Daniel Barenboim, Riccardo Chailly, Zubin Mehta, Bernard Haitink, Nikolaus Harnoncourt and, in particular, Christoph von Dohnányi, with whom he shared a deep friendship. He also worked just as closely and regularly with singers such as Cecilia Bartoli, Anna Netrebko, Lise Davidson, Saioa Hernandez, Diana Damrau, Peter Seiffert, Juan Diego Flórez, Carlos Álvarez, Edita Gruberová, Klaus Florian Vogt, Asmik Grigorian, Ekaterina Sementchuk, Krassimira Stoyanova, Marie José Siri, Jessica Pratt, Thomas Hampson, Plácido Domingo, Francesco Meli, Jonas Kaufmann, Piotr Beczala, Luca Salsi, Ludovic Tézier, Marcelo Alvarez, Elina Garanca, Leo Nucci, Ruggero Raimondi, Ildar Abdrazakov, Nicola Alaimo and Gregory Kunde.

He has been working as a Senior Casting Consultant at the Staatstheater am Gärtnerplatz since 1 September 2025.