Jonas Kaufmann

The most important tenor of his generation, Jonas Kaufmann has made a name for himself with his versatile repertoire and impressive vocal technique. Born in Munich on July 10, 1969, he took piano lessons and sang in a school choir before studying at the Hochschule für Musik, alternating with advanced studies in mathematics. As a young singer at the Bavarian State Opera, he made his stage debut in 1994, and was soon invited to perform in numerous roles in Germany and in Paris, Milan, Salzburg and Chicago. He shines as much in the interpretation of the major roles of the repertoire, in Faust, Idoménée, Rigoletto or Lohengrin, as on record with the successful recitals Romantic Arias and German Arias. In 2010, he distinguished himself in Schubert's Die Schöne Mullerin (La Belle meunière), before turning his attention to Wagner three times in 2012, with Parsifal at New York's Metropolitan Opera, Valery Gergiev's La Valkyrie and a Wagner recital. In 2014, he reunited with pianist Helmut Deutsch and Schubert's Lieder in Winterreise(The Winter Journey). The same year saw the release of his tribute to Berlin operetta, Du Bist die Welt für Mich. Moving from the Decca label to Sony Classical, the tenor honors Italian composers with the recitals The Verdi Album (2013) and Nessun Dorma: The Puccini Album (2015). In 2016, he pursues the concept to popular melodies in the Dolce Vita album, despite vocal cord damage that forces him to cancel several performances. He then records Mahler's Das Lied von der Erde(The Song of the Earth) and a recital devoted to French lyrical song: L'Opéra (2017). Back on stage in Lohengrin (Wagner), then Andrea Chénier (Giordano), Don Carlos and Otello (Verdi) in 2017-2018, he returns for a recital tour of Hugo Wolff's Italian Lieder in the company of Diana Damrau. 2018 also saw the release of the public recital An Italian Night - Live from the Waldbühne Berlin, featuring arias from the popular Italian repertoire. With his health concerns behind him, Jonas Kaufmann returned to the stages of La Scala in Milan, the Metropolitan Opera and Carnegie Hall in New York, taking on the roles of Otello and Fidelio in Munich, La Force du destin in London with Anna Netrebko, then a gala evening in Milan with Placido Domingo, Sonya Yoncheva and Juan Diego Florez. Discreetly, he marries stage director Christiane Lutz, before a 2019 marked by the release of the recital Wien, with the Wiener Philharmoniker conducted by Adam Fischer. Returning after the Covid-19 pandemic, he takes on multiple roles in Aïda in Naples and Paris, Don Carlos and Parsifal, then Peter Grimes in Vienna, La Bohème and Tristan et Isolde in Munich, while the albums Selige Stunde - Romantic Songs (2019), It's Christmas! (2020) and Liszt: Freudvoll und Leidvoll (2021). The year 2022 sees Jonas Kaufmann perform in recital and in Lohengrin and Aïda in Verona, record Turandot with Antonio Pappano and the duets album Insieme - Opera Duets with French baritone Ludovic Tézier. He goes on to interpret great cinema themes in The Sound of Movies (2023), and records Puccini's Turandot with Pappano and Wagner's Parsifal with Philippe Jordan. In 2024, he celebrated the centenary of Puccini's death with the album Puccini: Love Affairs, featuring sopranos Anna Netrebko, Pretty Yende, Maria Agresta, Asmik Grigorian and Malin Byström. In 2025 followed the intimate cycle of Schumann songs, Dichterliebe & Kerner-Lieder, with pianist Helmut Deutsch. A tour devoted to tunes by Austro-Hungarian composers, Magische Töne, resulted in the homonymous album released in 2026, featuring melodies by Goldmark, Lehár and Kálmán.