Josef Munclinger

Josef František Munclinger, also Josef František Munclingr (13 September 1888 Nítkovice, Moravia, then Austria-Hungary – 31 October 1954 Mariánské Lázně, Czech Republic, then Czechoslovakia) was a Czech operatic bass and opera stage director who had an active international career from the 1910s through the 1950s. His voice is preserved on a number of recordings made for the Ultraphon and Supraphon labels.

At the age of six he lost both his parents and grew up in Lemberg (then Poland) where his uncle played in the theatre orchestra. He simultaneously studied at the philosophy faculty of the University of Lemberg and at the Lemberg Conservatory (singing and composition with and ). In 1911 he made his professional opera debut at the Lviv Opera as Colline in Giacomo Puccini's La bohème. In the season 1913-1914 he sang at the Great Theatre in Poznań. During the 1916-1919 he was the member of Studio Piotrowsky, Teatr Stołeczny and Teatr Wielki in Warsaw. In 1915 he made also his opera directing debut with an expressionistic performance of The Tales of Hoffmann by Jacques Offenbach.