Jonas Kaufmann
Tenor Jonas Kaufmann possesses an operatic and concert repertory that spans several centuries, taking in Monteverdi and J.S. Bach and reaching into the 20th century with works by Schoenberg and contemporary composers. The vast area in between includes Mozart, Beethoven, Schubert, Puccini, and many more. Kaufmann willingly ventures into the obscure or little-known realms, too, appearing on world-premiere recordings of neglected operas. While his discography clearly suggests a preference for opera, he has sung much concert fare, including Mahler's Das Lied von der Erde and Beethoven's Ninth Symphony, as well as lieder. In 2024, he was heard on recordings of Wagner's Parsifal and Puccini: Love Affairs.
Kaufmann was born in Munich, Germany, on July 10, 1969. As a child, he was frequently taken to the opera by his father while he sang in boys' choirs and took piano lessons. Later, he enrolled at the Hochschule für Musik in Munich, where he took master classes from Hans Hotter, Josef Metternich, and James King. It was Hotter who interested Kaufmann in the lieder of Richard Strauss. From 1994 to 1996, Kaufmann sang at the opera house in Saarbrücken. Since the mid-'90s, he has made regular guest appearances at the world's major opera houses and the most prestigious venues in New York, Paris, Vienna, Milan, and many others. In 2001, he joined the Zurich opera and has since received high praise there for his Mozart (Idomeneo, Titus, Tamino), Gounod (Faust), and Verdi (the Duke). His debut recital at Wigmore Hall in London in 2002 was a great success, as was his debut at the Met in 2006 in the role of Alfredo in La Traviata. Kaufmann was the subject of a documentary in 2016, An Evening with Puccini, covering a concert of Puccini arias he performed at La Scala in Milan.
Kaufmann has made numerous recordings for a variety of labels, including EMI Classics, Decca, and Philips, among others. His first major recordings began appearing around the turn of the century, with Loewe's The Three Wishes (2000) and Marschner's Vampyr (2002). Kaufmann's albums have appeared with increasing frequency in the new century. In 2006, he issued an acclaimed recording of Strauss' lieder on Harmonia Mundi. His 2008 Decca recording Romantic Arias, which includes arias from Tosca, La bohème, La Traviata, and other operatic standards, was his first solo recording.
Kaufmann signed an exclusive contract with Sony Classical in 2013, and his debut for the label, The Verdi Album, topped both pop and classical charts in Germany and Austria, as did the following year's You Mean the World to Me. In 2020, Kaufmann was featured on several releases, including his first holiday album, It's Christmas!; Selige Stunde: Romantic Songs, with frequent collaborator Helmut Deutsch; and Verdi's Otello, with Antonio Pappano leading the Orchestra dell'Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia. Kaufmann earned a Singer of the Year nod from Opus Klassik for the 2021 album Liszt: Freudvoll und Leidvoll. He has continued a rigorous recording and performing schedule in the 2020s, issuing a pair of albums in 2024: a recording of Wagner's Parsifal alongside Elīna Garanča from the Vienna State Opera conducted by Philippe Jordan, and the duet album Puccini: Love Affairs, featuring several high-profile sopranos and marking the 100th anniversary of the composer's death.
© Robert Cummings & Keith Finke /TiVo
Similar artists
Discography
45 album(s) • Sorted by Bestseller
-
Wagner: Parsifal
Classical - Released by Sony Classical on 1 Mar 2024
Available in24-Bit/96 kHz Stereo -
Puccini: Love Affairs
Classical - Released by Sony Classical on 13 Dec 2024
Available in24-Bit/96 kHz Stereo -
Puccini: Love Affairs
Classical - Released by Sony Classical on 13 Dec 2024
Available in24-Bit/96 kHz Stereo -
Puccini: Turandot
Sondra Radvanovsky, Ermonela Jaho, Jonas Kaufmann, Orchestra dell'Accademia Nazionale Di Santa Cecilia, Antonio Pappano
Classical - Released by Warner Classics on 10 Mar 2023
Gramophone: Recording of the MonthAvailable in16-Bit/44.1 kHz Stereo -
Puccini: Turandot
Sondra Radvanovsky, Ermonela Jaho, Jonas Kaufmann, Orchestra dell'Accademia Nazionale Di Santa Cecilia, Antonio Pappano
Opera - Released by Warner Classics on 10 Mar 2023
Gramophone: Recording of the MonthAvailable in24-Bit/96 kHz Stereo -
Verdi: Otello
Classical - Released by Sony Classical on 12 Jun 2020
Available in24-Bit/96 kHz Stereo -
The Sound of Movies
Classical - Released by Sony Classical on 15 Sep 2023
Available in24-Bit/96 kHz Stereo -
Schubert: Winterreise
Classical - Released by Sony Classical on 26 Feb 2014
Gramophone Editor's ChoiceAvailable in24-Bit/96 kHz Stereo -
L'Opéra
Classical - Released by Sony Classical on 15 Sep 2017
Available in24-Bit/96 kHz Stereo -
Dolce Vita
Classical - Released by Sony Classical on 7 Oct 2016
Available in24-Bit/96 kHz Stereo -
-
It's Christmas! (Extended Edition)
Classical - Released by Sony Classical on 29 Oct 2021
Available in24-Bit/96 kHz Stereo -
"Du bist die Welt für mich" (1930s Berlin)
Classical - Released by Sony Classical on 15 Sep 2014
Available in24-Bit/96 kHz Stereo -
It's Christmas! (Gold Edition)
Classical - Released by Sony Classical on 25 Nov 2022
Available in24-Bit/96 kHz Stereo -
Nessun Dorma - The Puccini Album
Classical - Released by Sony Classical on 11 Sep 2015
Available in24-Bit/96 kHz Stereo -
Nessun Dorma - The Puccini Album
Classical - Released by Sony Classical on 11 Sep 2015
Available in24-Bit/96 kHz Stereo -
Richard Wagner : Airs d'opéras - Wesendonck Lieder
Jonas Kaufmann, Orchestra of the Deutsche Oper Berlin, Donald Runnicles
Classical - Released by Decca Music Group Ltd. on 1 Jan 2013
Gramophone Editor's ChoiceAvailable in24-Bit/96 kHz Stereo -
Jonas Kaufmann - The Tenor
Classical - Released by Sony Classical on 29 Apr 2022
Available in24-Bit/96 kHz Stereo -
Insieme - Opera Duets
Jonas Kaufmann, Ludovic Tezier
Opera - Released by Sony Classical on 7 Oct 2022
Available in24-Bit/96 kHz Stereo -
Liszt - Freudvoll und leidvoll
Classical - Released by Sony Classical on 17 Sep 2021
Available in24-Bit/96 kHz Stereo -
An Italian Night - Live from the Waldbühne Berlin
Classical - Released by Sony Classical on 14 Sep 2018
Available in24-Bit/48 kHz Stereo