Aksel Hauch Schiøtz was a Danish tenor and teacher who later transitioned to baritone. He studied voice with Agnete Zacharias, Valdemar Lincke, and John Forsell, and after earning a master’s degree in Danish and English in 1930, he taught languages and music until 1938, when he left teaching to focus entirely on singing. He made his early recital debut in 1936 and had his operatic debut at the Royal Danish Theatre in 1939 in Mozart’s Così fan tutte. During the German occupation of Denmark in World War II, he refused public performances but sang for the resistance. After the war, he became widely known for his recordings of Danish songs and Lieder by Schubert and Schumann, establishing himself as a leading interpreter of the post-war Lied repertoire. He has also taught at the University of Minnesota, the University of Toronto, and the University of Colorado at Boulder. He received the Carl Nielsen Prize in 1960 and the Gramex Prize in 1965.
