Maximilian Schmitt

Tenor Maximilian Schmitt has a wide repertory comprising opera, lieder, and concert music, and extending from Monteverdi to Britten. He has been successful in both traditional and historically informed performances. Schmitt was born in West Germany in 1977. His first professional experiences came as a chorister in the Regensburger Domspatzen, Germany's most renowned boychoir. Schmitt attended the Berlin University of the Arts, studying voice with Anke Eggers, and he honed his skills as a member of the Bavarian State Opera's Youth Ensemble in 2005 and 2006. He made his debut in Austria at the Salzburg Landestheater as Tamino in Mozart's Die Zauberflöte and then appeared in several productions at the Bavarian State Opera's Opera Studio before landing a position as a permanent member of the ensemble at the National Theater in Mannheim, Germany. He remained there until 2012, appearing in such roles as David in Wagner's Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg, Lensky in Tchaikovsky's Eugene Onegin, and a host of Mozart parts. Schmitt has since appeared in major houses in many countries, making his debut at La Scala in Milan as Pedrillo in Mozart's Die Entführung aus dem Serail under conductor Zubin Mehta in 2016, and later appearing at the Wiener Staatsoper and Theater an der Wien in Vienna, among others. He is notable for his wide experience in historically informed productions, maintaining a close partnership with conductor Philippe Herreweghe and performing with the Akademie für Alte Musik Berlin and other groups. Schmitt is in demand among traditional orchestras as well: he has appeared with world-class groups, including the Cleveland Orchestra, the Gewandhaus Orchestra of Leipzig, and the Symphonieorchester des bayerischen Rundfunks. He has performed Schumann's song cycle Dichterliebe and other lieder repertory, often working with accompanist Gerold Huber. Schmitt has recorded mostly lieder for the Oehms, Phi, and Harmonia Mundi labels. In 2019, he appeared as Florestan on a recording of Beethoven's Leonore, the original version of Fidelio, Op. 72, conducted by René Jacobs. The following year, Schmitt was heard in the recording of Haydn's Die Schöpfung, Hob. 21/2, on the Alpha label's Haydn 2032 cycle.
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