Jonas Kaufmann (Tenor)
Jonas Kaufmann (born 10 July 1969) is a German operatic tenor.
Although he has sung a variety of leading roles including both the Mozart and
Wagner repertoire, he is particularly known for his performances in spinto roles such as Don
Jose in Carmen,
Cavaradossi in Tosca,
Maurizio in Adriana
Lecouvreur, and the title role in Don Carlos.
Kaufmann was born in
Munich. His father worked for an insurance company, and his mother was a
kindergarten teacher. He had one older sister. He started studying piano when he
was eight, and he sang in his elementary school choir. Although he studied for
math entrance exams, in the summer of 1989 he began his vocal training at the
University of Music and Performing Arts Munich. While studying, he sang some
small roles at the Bavarian State Opera. He graduated from school in 1994.
In 1995, after a vocal
crisis, Kaufmann received help from American baritone Michael Rhodes who taught
him a "new way of singing" and how to become "more relaxed in my voice and in
myself." In Kaufmann's book Meinen die wirklich mich? he said, "To find a
Michael Rhodes that can really help you and bring you to success is really a
great stroke of luck."
He began his professional
career at Staatstheater Saarbrucken in 1994 and was soon invited to make debuts
in German theaters such as the Stuttgart Opera and Hamburg State Opera, as well
as international debuts at the Lyric Opera of Chicago, Opera National de Paris,
and La Scala. He made his Salzburg Festival debut in 1999 in a new production of
Busoni's Doktor Faust
and returned there in 2003 as Belmonte in Mozart's Die Entfuhrung aus dem Serail and for
concerts of the Beethoven's Ninth with the Berlin Philharmonic.
He performed in Covent
Garden in 2006-2007 in the role of Don Jose in Bizet's Carmen to critical acclaim, and also
sang Alfredo in Giuseppe Verdi's La Traviata at the Metropolitan Opera
and in Covent Garden in 2008. In May 2008, Kaufmann made his role debut as
Cavaradossi in Puccini's Tosca in Covent Garden, again to
critical acclaim.
In 2008-09 he performed Manon in Chicago opposite
Natalie Dessay and in the title role of a new production of Lohengrin at the Bavarian State Opera.
He also sang Lohengrin at the Bayreuth Festival opening night performance of the
2010 season; the production was staged by Hans Neuenfels and conducted by Andris
Nelsons.
His debut recording with
Decca, Romantic Arias, was released in January 2008. He has also recorded
a Schubert song cycle on the same label and the role of Pinkerton in Madama Butterfly for
EMI.
In January 2010 he assumed
the title role in Jules Massenet's Werther at the Opera Bastille; the
performance was recorded and released on DVD in November 2010.
In April 2011 he returned
to the Metropolitan Opera as Siegmund in director Robert Lepage's new production
of Richard Wagner's Die
Walkure the second part of his much larger work Der Ring des Nibelungen, scheduled to be
presented in its entirety during the 2011-12 season. In September 2011, he
underwent surgery to remove a lymph node from his chest. In December, he was
back, performing the title role in Gounod's Faust.
from wikipedia
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