Jonas Kaufmann (2025)
Hailed as “the world’s greatest tenor” by The Telegraph, Jonas Kaufmann has performed over 70 roles in the world’s leading opera houses. The New York Times has described him as having “clarion top notes, the blend of virility and tenderness in his singing,” and praised his “refined musicianship.” Not only a great vocal technician, his performances are also praised for their dramatic impact, “He embodies each role with such an investment that he makes the viewer think that this is the last time he will perform this work.” (Telerama). One of today’s greatest interpreters of Lieder repertoire, Kaufmann is also in very high demand in concert. His performances and recording have earned him multiple honors and awards including eleven ECHO/OPUS Klassik awards, “Singer of the Year” from multiple classical music magazines including Opernwelt, Diapason and Musical America. He has been knighted as a Chevalier de l’Ordre de l’Art et des Lettres, and has been named a member of the Bayerischer Maximiliansorden. In 2022 he was appointed Austrian Kammersänger, in 2024 he received the Ordre de la Légion d’honneur.
At the beginning of the 2023/24 season, Jonas Kaufmann presented a special project with Helmut Deutsch and director Claus Guth at the Park Avenue Armory in New York: Doppelgänger, a staged interpretation of Schubert’s Schwanengesang. This was followed by an Otello series and a new production of Turandot at the Vienna State Opera, end-of-year concerts with the Berlin Philharmonic under Kirill Petrenko, a series of concerts with film classics (The Sound of Movies) in Baden-Baden, Prague, Naples and Wiesbaden, new productions of La Gioconda at the Salzburg Easter Festival and at the Teatro San Carlo in Naples, performances of Aida and Tosca at the Bavarian State Opera and Andrea Chenier at the Royal Opera House, as well as concert performances of Act 2 of Tristan und Isolde in Gstaad and Baden-Baden.
Since September 2024 Jonas Kaufmann is Director of the Tyrolean Festival Erl. To mark the 100th anniversary of Giacomo Puccini’s death, he undertook a concert tour in Europe in October and November 2024, while also taking part in the Puccini Gala at Teatro alla Scala on November 29th.
2025 started with a revival of Leoncavallo’s I Pagliacci at the Wiener Staatsoper, followed by an Asia tour with opera concerts and recitals, a recital tour with Diana Damrau and Helmut Deutsch (songs by Mahler and Strauss), the title role in Parsifal at the Erl Festival and a new production of I Pagliacci at the Bavarian State Opera.
A voice which excels in a large variety of repertoire, Kaufmann has received recognition for his performance of French, German and Italian roles, as well as his performance in recital. Standout roles include Don José, Werther, Don Carlo, Otello, Andrea Chenier, Maurizio, Lohengrin, Parsifal and Florestan, which he has performed at houses such as Teatro alla Scala, Covent Garden, the Bayerische Staatsoper, the Metropolitan Opera, Opernhaus Zürich, Opéra national de Paris, and the Wiener Staatsoper. He has released multiple recordings, also encompassing diverse repertoire, including operatic repertoire, Lieder, operetta, and more.
A native of Munich, Germany, Jonas Kaufmann completed his vocal studies there at the Hochschule für Musik und Theater München, in addition to which he attended master classes with Hans Hotter, James King and Josef Metternich. During his first years on stage at the State Theatre in Saarbrücken he continued his training with Michael Rhodes in Trier.
(source: https://jonaskaufmann.com/)