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Jonas Kaufmann’s talent and versatility have made him a beloved figure in the opera world. His exceptional performances and powerful voice have captivated audiences around the globe.
With his ongoing dedication to his craft and his remarkable talent, Jonas Kaufmann continues to make a lasting impact on the world of opera.
Jonas Kaufmann’s Biography
Jonas Kaufmann is a renowned German-Austrian tenor opera singer known for his incredible versatility and wide-ranging repertoire.
He was born in Munich, Germany, on July 10, 1969, and has established himself as one of the most significant and versatile tenors of his time.
Kaufmann’s musical adventure began at the age of eight, when he began studying piano. He also demonstrated his vocal abilities in his primary school choir.
Despite his initial interest in mathematics, he eventually decided to pursue his passion for music. He began his vocal studies at the University of Music and Performing Arts Munich in the summer of 1989. During his education, he performed in supporting roles at the Bavarian State Opera.
Kaufmann graduated from university in 1994 with honours in both opera and concert performance. He then began his professional career in the Saarbrücken Staatstheater.
His brilliance drew the attention of the opera industry, and he was invited to make debuts in prestigious German theatres such as the Stuttgart Opera and the Hamburg State Opera. He also made his worldwide debuts at the Lyric Opera of Chicago, the Opéra National de Paris, and La Scala.
Kaufmann has played a variety of parts that have gained him critical acclaim throughout his career. Don José in Carmen, Cavaradossi in Tosca, Maurizio in Adriana Lecouvreur, and Siegmund in Die Walküre are just a few of his memorable roles.
In addition, he has played the title parts in Parsifal, Werther, Don Carlos, and Lohengrin. According to the New York Times, he is “the most important, versatile tenor of his generation.”
Kaufmann’s career is littered with remarkable accomplishments. He made his Metropolitan Opera debut in 2006 as Alfredo in Verdi’s La Traviata, receiving great acclaim. He has also appeared at major venues such as London’s Royal Opera House and the Salzburg Festival. He has worked with well-known conductors and musicians like as Andris Nelsons and Helmut Deutsch.
Kaufmann has released a number of albums in addition to his stage performances. Romantic Arias, his first Decca release, was released in 2008. In addition, he has recorded a Schubert song cycle and played Pinkerton in Puccini’s Madama Butterfly.
Kaufmann’s personal life has been as turbulent as his musical career. He has been married twice, the first time to mezzo-soprano Margarete Joswig, with whom he had three children.
However, the couple divorced in the end. He is presently married to opera director Christiane Lutz, with whom he has a child.
Discography
| Year | Album | Credits | Peak positions | |||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| GER | AUT | BEL | FRA | SPN | SWI | UK | ||||||||
| 2001 | Der Vampyr | Jonas Kaufmann / Franz Hawlata / Regina Klepper / Anke Hoffmann / Markus Marquardt / Thomas Dewald / Yoo-Chang Nah / WDR Rundfunkchor Köln, WDR Rundfunkorchester Köln & Helmuth Froschauer | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | |||||
| 2006 | Strauss Lieder | Jonas Kaufmann / Piano Helmut Deutsch | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | |||||
| 2008 | Romantic Arias | Jonas Kaufmann / Prague Philharmonic Orchestra / Marco Armiliato | 31 | – | – | 148 | – | – | – | |||||
| 2008 | Puccini: Madama Butterfly | Angela Gheorghiu / Jonas Kaufmann / Enkeleida Shkosa / Fabio Capitanucci / Orchestra e Coro dell’ Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia Roma / Antonio Pappano | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | |||||
| 2009 | Sehnsucht | Jonas Kaufmann / Mahler Chamber Orchestra / Claudio Abbado | 48 | – | – | 119 | – | – | – | |||||
| 2010 | Schubert – Die schöne Müllerin | Jonas Kaufmann | – | – | – | 133 | – | – | – | |||||
| Verismo Arias | Jonas Kaufmann | 51 | – | – | 68 | – | – | – | ||||||
| 2011 | Die Superstars der Klassik – Singen die schönsten Opernarien | Erwin Schrott / Anna Netrebko / Jonas Kaufmann | 34 | 1 | – | – | – | – | – | |||||
| 2012 | Königskinder – Engelbert Humperdinck | Jonas Kaufmann / Isabel Rey | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | |||||
| 2013 | Wagner | Kaufmann / Runnicles / Orchester der Deutschen Oper Berlin | 43 | 30 | 99 | 76 | – | – | – | |||||
| Verdi Requiem | Anja Harteros / Elīna Garanča / Jonas Kaufmann / René Pape / Orchestra e Coro del Teatro alla Scala / Daniel Barenboim | 37 | 51 | – | – | – | – | – | ||||||
| Best of | Jonas Kaufmann | – | – | 148 | – | – | – | – | ||||||
| Jonas Kaufmann | Jonas Kaufmann | – | 59 | – | 145 | – | – | – | ||||||
| The Verdi Album | Jonas Kaufmann | 16 | 7 | 120 | 53 | 58 | 55 | 100 | ||||||
| 2014 | Winterreise | Jonas Kaufmann, Helmut Deutsch | 38 | 22 | 111 | 87 | 1 | 73 | – | |||||
| Du bist die Welt für mich | Jonas Kaufmann, Julia Kleiter (soprano), Rundfunk-Sinfonieorchester Berlin, conductor: Jochen Rieder | 11 | 9 | – | 84 | – | 55 | – | ||||||
| 2015 | The Age of Puccini | Jonas Kaufmann | – | 56 | – | – | – | – | – | |||||
| Nessun Dorma – The Puccini Album | Jonas Kaufmann | 10 | 8 | 161 | 23 | – | 26 | 22 | ||||||
| Aida | Jonas Kaufmann, Anja Harteros, Ekaterina Semenchuk, Ludovic Tézier, Erwin Schrott, Antonio Pappano & Orchestra dell’Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia | 55 | 74 | – | – | – | – | – | ||||||
| 2016 | Dolce Vita | Jonas Kaufmann | 7 | 7 [44] |
42 | 38 | 37 [45] |
26 | – | |||||
| 2017 | Mahler: Das Lied von der Erde | Jonas Kaufmann | 26 | 43 | 136 | 122 | 78 [46] |
88 | – | |||||
| L’Opéra | Jonas Kaufmann | 26 | 13 | 102 | 56 [47] |
51 [48] |
50 | – | ||||||
| 2018 | Eine italienische Nacht – Live aus der Waldbühne Berlin | Jonas Kaufmann | 29 | 36 [49] |
– | – | 88 [50] |
– | – | |||||
| 2019 | Wien[51] | Jonas Kaufmann, Vienna Philharmonic and Ádám Fischer | 10 | 2 | 131 | 130 [52] |
76 [53] |
34 | 2[54] | |||||
| 2020 | Verdi: Otello | Jonas Kaufmann, Orchestra dell’Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia | 30 | 24 | – | – | – | 34 | – | |||||
| Selige Stunde | Jonas Kaufmann, Helmut Deutsch | 28 | 9 | – | – | – | 61 | – | ||||||
| Sommernachtskonzert 2020 | Jonas Kaufmann, Valery Gergiev, der Wiener Philharmoniker | – | 13 | – | – | – | – | – | ||||||
| It’s Christmas! | Jonas Kaufmann | 6 | 2 | 95 | – | – | 19 | – | ||||||
| 2021 | Liszt – Freudvoll und Leidvoll | Jonas Kaufmann, Helmut Deutsch | ||||||||||||
| It’s Christmas – Extended Edition | Jonas Kaufmann | |||||||||||||
| 2022 | The Tenor[55] | Jonas Kaufmann, Helmut Deutsch | ||||||||||||
| 2022 | Insieme | Jonas Kaufmann, Ludovic Tézier, Accademia di Santa Cecilia, Antonio Pappano | ||||||||||||
| 2023 | Turandot | Jonas Kaufmann, Ermonela Jaho, Michele Pertusi, Michael Spyres, Sondra Radvanovsky, Accademia di Santa Cecilia, Antonio Pappano[56] | ||||||||||||
| “–” denotes a recording that did not chart or was not released in that territory. | ||||||||||||||
DVDs[edit]
- 2002: Monteverdi – Il ritorno d’Ulisse in patria (Jonas Kaufmann / Vesselina Kasarova / Dietrich Henschel / Isabel Rey)
- 2002: Paisiello – Nina (Jonas Kaufmann / Cecilia Bartoli / László Polgár)
- 2004: Beethoven – Fidelio (Jonas Kaufmann / Camilla Nylund / László Polgár / Alfred Muff / Elizabeth Magnuson / Christoph Strehl)
- 2005: Mozart – La clemenza di Tito (Jonas Kaufmann / Vesselina Kasarova / Eva Mei / Malin Hartelius)
- 2006: Bizet – Carmen (Jonas Kaufmann / Anna Caterina Antonacci / Ildebrando D’Arcangelo / Norah Amsellem)
- 2006: Schubert – Fierrabras (Jonas Kaufmann / Juliane Banse / Michael Volle / Christoph Strehl / László Polgár)
- 2008: Bizet – Carmen (Jonas Kaufmann / Vesselina Kasarova / Isabel Rey / Michele Pertusi)
- 2009: R. Strauss – Der Rosenkavalier (Renée Fleming / Sophie Koch / Diana Damrau / Franz Hawlata / Jonas Kaufmann)
- 2009: Wagner – Lohengrin (Jonas Kaufmann / Anja Harteros / Wolfgang Koch / Michaela Schuster / Christof Fischesser / Evgeny Nikitin)
- 2010: Massenet – Werther (Jonas Kaufmann / Sophie Koch / Michel Plasson)
- 2010: Humperdinck – Königskinder (Jonas Kaufmann / Isabel Rey / Oilver Widmer / Liliana Nikiteanu)
- 2010: Cilea – Adriana Lecouvreur (Jonas Kaufmann / Angela Gheorghiu / Olga Borodina / Alessandro Corbelli)
- 2011: Puccini – Tosca (Jonas Kaufmann / Emily Magee / Thomas Hampson)
- 2011: Wagner – Die Walküre (Jonas Kaufmann / Eva-Maria Westbroek / Deborah Voigt / Bryn Terfel)
- 2011: Gounod – Faust (Jonas Kaufmann / Marina Poplavskaya / René Pape)
- 2011: Wagner – Der Ring des Nibelungen (Jonas Kaufmann / Bryn Terfel / Deborah Voigt / Jay Hunter Morris / Eva-Maria Westbroek)
- 2012: R.Strauss – Ariadne auf Naxos (Jonas Kaufmann / Emily Magee / Elena Moșuc / Peter Matić / Cornelius Obonya)
- 2012: Puccini – Tosca (Angela Gheorghiu / Jonas Kaufmann / Bryn Terfel / Antonio Pappano)
- 2012: Verdi – Requiem (Jonas Kaufmann / Anja Harteros / Elīna Garanča / René Pape)
- 2013: Wagner – Parsifal (Jonas Kaufmann / René Pape / Peter Mattei / Katarina Dalayman / Evgeny Nikitin / Daniele Gatti / François Girard)
- 2013: Puccini – La fanciulla del West (Jonas Kaufmann / Nina Stemme / Tomasz Konieczny)
- 2013: Verdi – Don Carlo (Jonas Kaufmann / Anja Harteros / Matti Salminen / Thomas Hampson / Ekaterina Semenchuk)
- 2014: Puccini – Manon Lescaut (Jonas Kaufmann / Kristine Opolais)
- 2014: Verdi – La Forza del destino (Jonas Kaufmann / Anja Harteros)
- 2015: Mascagni – Cavalleria rusticana (Jonas Kaufmann / Liudmyla Monastyrska) & Leoncavallo – Pagliacci (Jonas Kaufmann / Maria Agresta)
- 2015: Giordano – Andrea Chenier (Jonas Kaufmann / Eva-Marie Westbroek)
- 2016: Opera Gala Baden Baden – Gala Summer (Jonas Kaufmann / Bryn Terfel)
- 2017: Verdi – Otello (Jonas Kaufmann / Maria Agresta / Claudio Sgura
- 2021: Korngold – Die Tote Stadt (Jonas Kaufmann/Marlis Petersen)
