Trained at the Geneva Conservatory of Music and then prepared by Monique Mathon and Irène Aïtoff, Richard Rittelmann began his career at the National Opera of Lyon in Busoni's Doktor Faust, directed by Pierre Strosser, under the baton of Kent Nagano, in 1999. Then came the French premiere of Udo Zimmermann's La Weiße Rose, directed by Stephan Grögler. He regularly works on his vocal technique with Silvia Sass and his roles with Mari Lorila and Paolo Grossa.

Thanks to these stage experiences, he won prizes at numerous international competitions such as the European Music Competition in Picardy, Voix d'Or, the International Singing Competition of Toulouse, the International Singing Competition of Clermont-Ferrand, the Lyric Voices Competition of Marmande, the Eurobottega or Voix Nouvelles in Paris. In 2014, he was awarded the jury prize at the ARMEL/ARTE competition in Budapest in Harrison Birtwistle's Punch and Judy.

His rich and elastic voice as well as his passion for the stage make Richard Rittelmann a solid interpreter of the Italian repertoire: Giacomo Puccini (La bohème, Madama Butterfly, Edgard, Turandot), Gioachino Rossini (The Barber of Seville, La Cenerentola, l'inganno felice), Franco Alfano (Cyrano de Bergerac) or Giuseppe Verdi (Traviata, Macbeth). Eclectic and multilingual (he is fluent in French, English, Italian, German and Hungarian), he explores the operatic repertoire in all its aspects: French opera, notably Claude Debussy (Pelléas et Mélisande) or Jules Massenet (Werther, Le Jongleur de Notre-Dame); German opera with Richard Strauss (Ariadne auf Naxos) or Richard Wagner (Tristan und Isolde, Parsifal). His repertoire extends from the beginnings of opera, Claudio Monterverdi (L'Orfeo, Ulisse), to the twentieth century, which is also familiar to him, from Erich Wolfgang Korngold (Die tote Stadt) to Viktor Ullmann (Der Kaiser von Atlantis) via Francis Poulenc (Dialogues des Carmélites, Les Mamelles de Tirésias, Le Gendarme incompris) or Benjamin Britten (The Rape of Lucretia, Billy Bud, A Midsummer Night's Dream, Death in Venice). In the company of his friend Roberto Alagna, whom he met during the production of Hugo de Ana's Carmen at the Carlo Felice in Genoa in 2002, he recorded several titles for Deutsche Grammophon and participated in numerous stage projects with him.

Richard Rittelmann's dynamic temperament is matched by his commitment to the operetta repertoire. He has participated in numerous productions of works by Franz Lehár (Die lustige Witwe), Jacques Offenbach (La Vie parisienne, Pomme d'api, Monsieur Choufleuri, Un mari à la porte), Arnold Schönberg (Von heute auf morgen) and Francis Lopez (La Belle de Cadix).

His timbre makes him an ideal interpreter of the role of Jesus in the passions of Johann Sebastian Bach or the sacred repertoire of Johannes Brahms, Gabriel Fauré, Hector Berlioz or Georg Händel.

Eager to discover little-known pages and more intimate music, Richard Rittelmann works with Chisato Kusunoki. With Franck Villard, he interprets the French melody, thus highlighting the inventiveness of these compositions.

Appreciating the richness and technical diversity of today's works, Richard Rittelmann collaborates with the composers of his time: Pascal Dusapin (Passion), Flavio Testi (Saül), Balz Trümpy (Helios), Charles Chaynes (Mi Amor) or David Alagna (Le Dernier Jour d'un Condamné). He interpreted the main role of Gregor Mittenhofer in Elegie für junge Liebende by Hans Werner Henze, in concert version, conducted by Arturo Tamayo at the Swiss Italian Radio in Lugano during the Novecento Festival. Recently, he participated in the world premiere of Piccolo Principe by Alberto Caruso.

Sensitive to the future of young singers, he gives master classes every summer in La Baule while developing a lyrical pole there. In addition, Richard Rittelmann is very involved in the cultural life of his region, notably as administrator of the Centre International de Recherche Musicale de Nice but also by supporting the initiatives of the Opus Opéra association in Gattières. He has also received the honorary distinction of Lyric Ambassador for the city of Grasse.