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Tenor Jonas Kaufmann possesses an operatic and concert repertory that spans several centuries, taking in Monteverdi and J.S. Bach and reaching into the twentieth century with works by Schoenberg and contemporary composers. The vast area in between includes Mozart, Beethoven, Weber, Berlioz, Schubert, Wagner, Gounod, Mahler, Puccini, and much else. But Kaufmann willingly ventures into the obscure or little-known realms: he has appeared on disc in Marschner's Vampyr and in the world-premiere recordings on the Capriccio label of two neglected nineteenth century operas, Josef Abert's Ekkehard, where he sang the title role, and Carl Loewe's The Three Wishes, where he portrayed Hassan. Kaufmann is a major operatic star and has sung at the most prestigious venues in New York, Chicago, Paris, Vienna, Zurich, Frankfurt, Milan, and many others. 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 (Harmonia Mundi issued an acclaimed disc of Richard Strauss lieder in 2006). Kaufmann has made numerous recordings for a variety of labels, including EMI Classics, Decca, Philips, Arthaus Musik, and TDK.
Jonas Kaufmann was born in Munich, Germany, in 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 1994-1996 Kaufmann sang at the opera house in Saarbrücken. Since the mid-1990s he has made regular guest appearances at the world's major opera houses. 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). Kaufmann's first major recordings began appearing around the turn of the century, with Loewe's The Three Wishes (2000) and Marschner's Vampyr (2002). His debut recital at Wigmore Hall in London in December 2002 was a great success, as was his debut at the Met in February 2006 in the role of Alfredo in La Traviata. Kaufmann's recordings have appeared with increasing frequency in the new century. The 2008 Decca CD Romantic Arias, which includes arias from Tosca, La bohème, La Traviata, and other operatic standards, was his first solo recording. His 2013 Verdi Album and 2014 You Mean the World to Me topped both pop and classical charts in Germany and Austria.
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Classical - Released January 1, 2013 | Decca Music Group Ltd.
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Classical - Released June 13, 2011 | Decca Music Group Ltd.
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One of the outstanding qualities of this recording of Fidelio from the 2010 Lucerne Festival is the depth of the casting, down to the smallest roles; the singers in secondary and tertiary parts may not be internationally renowned, but they all deliver first-rate performances. Having a singer of Peter Mattei's stature and distinctiveness as Don Fernando, who doesn't even show up until the finale, is real luxury casting. Soprano Rachel Harnisch, bass Christof Fischesser, and tenor Christoph Strehl as Marzelline, Rocco, and Jaquino, are not widely familiar names, but their performances are simply superb, sharply characterized, and beautifully sung. Harnisch and Strehl's duet that opens the opera establishes the expectation that this is going to be an exceptional performance, and when the quartet is joined by Fischesser and Nina Stemme in the title role, it is a marvel of musical subtlety and emotional complexity. Falk Struckmann is not entirely consistent as Don Pizarro; his presence is effectively menacing, but in the first act he tends to sound forced and his intonation in occasionally questionable. By the second act he seems to have found his footing and is far more persuasive. Tenor Jonas Kaufmann delivers a powerfully dramatic performance and sounds even more baritonal than he usually does, which is appropriate for this role, especially in the aria that opens Act II. Stemme doesn't come across with the personal force the role requires, but her singing is lovely and expressive throughout. Claudio Abbado leads the Mahler Chamber Orchestra/Lucerne Festival Orchestra and Arnold Schoenberg Chor in a terrific performance of the score, by turns urgently propulsive and achingly lyrical. His insightful pacing and the sensitive orchestral playing contribute hugely to the impact of the performance. The sound is clean and detailed, but the voices generally could afford to be slightly more present; they certainly aren't swamped by the orchestra but balance would have been finer if the soloists had been more in the foreground.
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Opera Extracts - Released September 13, 2013 | Sony Classical
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German tenor Jonas Kaufmann has been laying a strong claim to the legacy of the superstar tenors of the 1980s and 1990s, but until now it hasn't been completely clear that Verdi, the tenor's bread and butter, was a fully compelling part of his arsenal. With this release, Kaufmann puts any doubts to rest and steps up in a big way to his signing by the Sony Classical label and its attendant operatic muscle. The sheer ease of Kaufmann's voice in its upper register is about to get to casual opera fans in a big way (and he's a bit hipper than Pavarotti or even Domingo ever were), and right now the sky would seem to be the limit to his popularity. Yet there is plenty here for opera scorekeepers to dig their teeth into, and it seems likely that Kaufmann will come out very well with them, too. Consider the high C at the end of "Di quella pira" from Il trovatore: surely few tenors in history have hit it out of the park the way Kaufmann does. There is a good mix of hits from various parts of Verdi's career and some lesser-known pieces, and the album is all newly performed, not a collection of things recorded at different times. It has a sense of confidence, purpose, and commitment to the text (no soulless technical perfection here), and it's a joy for listeners at all levels. With recent Wagnerian (and Straussian) triumphs under his belt, Kaufmann seems to be entering a period where he can do pretty much anything and probably will.
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Classical - Released September 12, 2014 | Sony Classical
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Classical - Released September 11, 2015 | Sony Classical
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The most German of tenors, Jonas Kaufmann, tackles a new Italian recital, following 2013's The Verdi Album, which was released to mark the composer's bicentenary. Today, Kaufmanndedicates an entire disc to the operas of Puccini. The all-important pieces are naturally found in the form of the "Recondita armonia" from Tosca, and "O soave Fanciulla" from La Bohème. Also of note are "No piangere, Liù!", from Turandot, and some special moments on less-performed works such as Le Villi ("Ei giunge!") and Edgar ("Orgia, chimera dall'occhio vitreo").Kaufmann does not seek, in any way, to copy Italian tenors or the Italianate mode of singing. Instead he yearns for a fidelity and purity of expression, as well as an absolute respect for the original works. This tenor moves us subtly away from what we are used to; which will delight some, and astonish the rest. Is this how Puccini really meant for his work to sound?
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Classical - Released September 15, 2017 | Sony Classical
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This record sees the most francophone (and francophile) of the German tenors take up a few pearls from the French repertoire. What's more, it's not only the big hits: "La fleur que tu m’avais jetée" is up in front, but also – or even, first and foremost – much rarer pearls have been fished up from the shoals of Meyerbeer, Berlioz, Thomas or Lalo. Jonas Kaufmann has succeeded in developing an irreproachable French elocution, in an equally impeccable style, denuded of the base Italianisms – glissandos, cooing, sobs, parasitic diphthongs, fermatas on the high Cs, etc. – that so many tenors (Italians, yes, but also French singers, including some stars...) impose on this music, which is not built to support them. Kaufmann's voice, which almost approaches a baritone, confers a different masculinity onto these roles (which is neither a virtue nor a vice, but a fundamental quality) and a depth for which the roles of Nadir, Don José or Werther all cry out. Moreover, Kaufmann's dynamic palette, from the fullest fortissimo to the suavest murmur, including on the high notes, is a joy to behold. The excellent Ludovic Tézier provides his counterpart in the duo of Pêcheurs de perles, while Sonia Yoncheva takes on the role of the tender Manon - even if the latter's French still leaves a little to be desired. © SM/Qobuz
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Classical - Released April 7, 2017 | Sony Classical
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Art Songs - Released February 14, 2014 | Sony Classical
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A superstar of opera, Jonas Kaufmann is somewhat less renowned for his interpretations of art songs, though this 2014 Sony release of Franz Schubert's Winterreise is his second disc in the genre, following his 2009 recording of Die schöne Müllerin for Decca. Even though it's more recognizable in the context of his Wagner and Verdi roles, Kaufmann's fluid and strongly supported tenor voice is well-suited to Schubert's arching lines and lyrical expressions, and its warm tone and rich timbres convey a variety of moods and emotions with minimal effort and no strain. Kaufmann and his longtime accompanist Helmut Deutsch have performed this song cycle in recital many times, and this performance reflects an ease and familiarity with the material and each other's timing that seem quite natural and spontaneous. Sony's recording does justice to the vocal part and the accompaniment by evenly balancing them in the mix, rather than recessing the piano to favor the singer.
© TiVo
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Classical - Released June 12, 2020 | Sony Classical
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It has been a while since major studios gave up recording operas in studio due to a lack of investment and profitability. But the world-renowned reputation of Jonas Kaufmann has incited Sony Classical to record and produce this new version of Verdi’s Othello in studio in the “traditional style”. The work was produced over twelve days of session recording in the generous acoustics of the splendid Parco della Musica built in Rome by the architect Renzo Piano. It is no exaggeration when we say that this is a truly astounding version of Verdi’s masterpiece that stands shoulder to shoulder with the legendary versions of the flamboyant Toscanini (1947), the winning trio Vickers-Rysanek-Gobbi of Serafin (1960) and also the electrifying live performance of Carlos Kleiber (1976). There are of course many others of diverse merit but none so utterly satisfying.Jonas Kaufmann has waited patiently before taking on the compelling title role, singing previously as Cassio in Chicago before playing Otello in London in 2017 under the passionate direction of Antonio Pappano (interpretation available on DVD). Here, the same conductor is at helm of the supercharged and on great form, Orchestre de l’Académie Sainte-Cécile in Rome. Alongside his strong, moving, impulsive and ultimately fragile depiction of Otello, Jonas Kaufmann is joined by Federica Lombardi’s sublime Desdemona and Carlos Álvarez’s solid take on the sordid, treacherous and conniving Iago. Liparit Avetisyan and Carlo Bossi, who play Cassio and Rodrigo respectively, provide this ensemble with a perfect harmony. The sound recording provides a great presence to this vocal and instrumental delight and does justice to the aggression and violent colouring of Verdi’s final drama as the composer proves more than ever to be a match for Shakespeare. © François Hudry/Qobuz
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Classical - Released September 4, 2020 | Sony Classical
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Although Covid-19 has forced many musicians to cancel their concerts and recordings in 2020, it has also sparked creativity and allowed people to enjoy calmer moments – something that’s rare when you have a busy career. Jonas Kaufmann did not waste his time during lockdown, recording several Lieder albums with his accomplice the pianist Helmut Deutsch.“Selige Stunde” (“Blessed Hours!”) is the first fruit of his quarantine which brings together a selection of Lieder from Mozart to Mahler, including Schubert, Mendelssohn, Grieg, Strauss, Brahms, Wolf, Schumann and extremely rare gems such as Ännchen von Tharau by Friedrich Silcher or the unusual In mir klingt ein Lied composed by Alois Melichar on the Etude, Op. 10 No. 3 by Chopin.Time and intensive use have gradually tarnished Jonas Kaufmann's voice and his timbre has darkened without losing any of its expression or exceptional range of nuances. With quarantine making it impossible to use a recording studio, the two friends recorded this album in a private home with as few people as possible. It’s a “blessing in disguise” for Jonas Kaufmann and Helmut Deustch, who were able to find the tone of a private concert in the intimacy of a living room for this recording. © François Hudry/Qobuz
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Classical - Released October 11, 2019 | Sony Classical
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After records dedicated to Berlin in the 1930s, or to the Italy of La Dolce Vita, now Jonas Kaufmann is offering us some sugary Viennese delights, in keeping with the spirit of his 2014 album Du bist die Welt für mich, which covers German and Viennese operetta from 1925 to 1935. This new release rounds off an eternal and unchanging vision of an imagined Vienna. The net is cast wide, with works by Johann Strauss Jr., Robert Stolz and Franz Lehár, matched by pearls from lesser-known composers (Kalman, Zeller, Leopoldi, Weinberger, Benatzky, Kreuder, Georg Kreisler), who each bring their own stone to this monument to the great capital of music. While you might catch yourself humming along to Wiener Blut with Jonas Kaufmann (here with Rachel Willis-Sørensen), this superbly put-together programme offers some pleasant surprises in the form of unknown airs. Most luxurious of all is the discreet, never-invasive accompaniment from the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra, in disguise here as an opulent "faubourg orchestra", most ably conducted by the Hungarian Adam Fischer. It's folk music of course, but sung with a supreme elegance and the technique of an opera singer at the height of their vocal and expressive powers. © François Hudry/Qobuz
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Classical - Released June 15, 2015 | Decca Music Group Ltd.
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Vocal Music (Secular and Sacred) - Released January 1, 2008 | Decca Music Group Ltd.
Tenor Jonas Kaufmann has resisted the pressure of opera companies and fans to settle on a single repertoire and has insisted on spanning the nationalities and styles of opera from the Classical and Romantic periods, ranging from Mozart to Wagner and Puccini. This CD is a demonstration of the wisdom of his decision not to let himself be restrained by the expectations of others, and to venture into whatever roles interest him and suit his voice. Kaufmann has a large, rich voice, and he handles it with the variety required by this diverse repertoire. He is absolutely technically secure, and that allows him to make some daring (and effective) interpretive choices. He occasionally allows himself a roughened texture, almost a grittiness, that you'd never hear in Pavarotti or Domingo, but which is entirely appropriate for the character. After all, these are mostly characters (Rodolfo, Cavaradossi, Don José, Werther) who've been tossed around pretty roughly by life, and it's reasonable that they should show evidence of their history in their singing. This is especially effective and moving at the beginning of "Che gelida manina," where the roughness that Kaufmann allows into his tender declaration of love, even at the very beginning of the story, speaks worlds about his background and character. He has plenty of vocal heft for a heroic Preisleid from Der Meistersinger, and the velvety tenderness for the Massenet excerpts. An added attraction of this album is the inclusion of arias from lesser-known operas, such as Berlioz's La Damnation de Faust and Flotow's Martha. The Prague Philharmonic Orchestra, led by Marco Armiliato, provides a solid, but not particularly distinguished accompaniment. Decca's sound is fresh and clean, with a good sense of presence. The collection should be of strong interest to fans of bel canto, particularly those on the lookout for rising stars.
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Classical - Released September 14, 2018 | Sony Classical
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Built to specifications set down by Joseph Goebbels for the 1936 Olympic Games as a showcase of triumphant Nazism, this open-air stage was inspired by the ancient theatre of Epidaurus, and had almost perfect acoustics. With the theatre renamed "Waldbühne" (forest stage) and the ghosts of the past exorcised, this gigantic space was used in the 1960s for boxing matches and rock concerts, including the 1965 Rolling Stones show which ended in a veritable riot. There was nothing like that on the July evening in 2018 when Jonas Kaufmann gave his recital, although a very large crowd had come to hear their national tenor deliver a 100% Italian repertoire. It was chilly that night in Berlin, with rainclouds threatening, but the 20,000 spectators gave long ovations for Jonas Kaufmann and the Berlin Radio Orchestra, conducted by Jochen Rieder, in this concert which was also graced by the Georgian mezzo-soprano Anita Rachvelishvili.The programme was calculated to electrify the crowd, and included a recital of the immortal Nessun dorma (Turandot by Puccini) which set off great cries from an audience which Kaufmann had to repay with seven encores. Popular songs, (Volare, Parlami d’amore Mariù) and film music (Le Parrain) rounded off a generous programme covering ground that our most illustrious tenor had first broken with his album "Dolce Vita", released in 2016. A solar voice, approaching a baritone on the lower notes and shining at the top of the scale, Jonas Kaufmann's rude vocal health makes him one of the most thrilling tenors of the early 21st century. © François Hudry/Qobuz
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Art Songs, Mélodies & Lieder - Released August 15, 2007 | harmonia mundi
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Classical - Released September 12, 2014 | Sony Classical
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After a fairly long period of relative obscurity, German tenor Jonas Kaufmann experienced a sharp rise in popularity once he hit his forties in 2009. Each of his albums outsold (or at least out-reached) the previous one, and he seems to have been deemed ready for the crossover treatment. Showing typical gravitas, Kaufmann avoided contemporary pop and even Broadway, reaching back to the world of German-language operetta between the world wars, and even including a few weighty serious opera numbers. The new audience hook consists of the album's dual release in German and English versions. The difference is partly a question of the title: the You Mean the World to Me version, including the title track, is still more than half in German. But, to answer the question that will be on everyone's mind, yes, Kaufmann can handle the English language, and he still sounds gorgeous. There is a consciousness that it is not his own, but no more than that, and it can be forgotten at times. In fact, part of what makes the English version work is not any particular amount of woodshedding on Kaufmann's part, but the intelligence of the program, which reflects a music balanced between the Germanic and American worlds. He does Franz Lehár's Girls Were Made to Love and Kiss not simply because he wants to cross over to Anglophone popular audiences, but because understanding that work requires addressing the fact that it became very popular indeed with its English text. Figures like Richard Tauber were household names for some, and it may be that Kaufmann's fine release will be seen as a forerunner of this extravagantly romantic tradition.
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Classical - Released October 7, 2016 | Sony Classical
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Some spectacular efforts in standard operatic roles have brought tenor Jonas Kaufmann to the point of emerging as the current generation's Pavarotti or Domingo, and the release of an album of popular Italian songs fits into the marketing plan. Said plan comes complete with brutally stereotyped verbiage in the graphics ("even in the darkest moment, the Italian finds a way to put a little bit of powdered sugar on top and to continue finding sweetness in life") that have supposedly come from Kaufmann himself, purported to have a special understanding of the culture because, growing up in Munich, he was only a day's drive away from Italy. The plan may well succeed. Kaufmann is in fine voice, and this alone will appeal to his growing legion of fans. He respects the basic simplicity of the material, never overwhelming it with vocal heroics. And he's got a good, organic program of Italian and Neapolitan classics to work with, avoiding chestnuts, pulling a few rarities off the scrap heap of history, and incorporating some of the recent additions that show the continuing vitality of this tradition. These include the Nino Rota Godfather classic "Parla più piano" and a song, Lucio Dalla's Caruso, originally written for the aging Pavarotti. If you're going to compete with him, you'd better bring your A game, and Kaufmann's technically unimpeachable, but curiously detached, reading doesn't cut it. The Orchestra del Teatro Massimo di Palermo under Asher Fisch has the right slightly loose sound for the music, and there are many tunes that may well connect with one or another individual listener. Sample to see if Kaufmann's way with these evergreen songs is for you.
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Classical - Released September 15, 2017 | Sony Classical
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You might not have looked to Germany as the source of the next big opera star, but there you have it: tenor Jonas Kaufmann has reached the point where he can sing almost anything and coax beauty and even sensuousness out of it. Can big crossover albums be far off? He doesn't have quite the charisma of a Domingo, but the voice is at its breathtaking peak and seems to be well enough cared for that it could stay there a while. As the title implies, this album is devoted to French operatic repertory. Kaufmann has a good deal of experience in this field, and he sets the album up as a group of pieces that have had personal significance to him because they played a part in the development of this aspect of his career. The particulars are spelled out in an interview-style booklet note. As such, the program touches on some less-than-standard items; this may appeal to opera devotees, but the general listener might want to hear a familiar tune from time to time. There is no denying the sheer beauty of the voice, though, most of all in the quiet high notes that have become Kaufmann's specialty. You could start sampling with the opening "L'amour... Ah! Lève-toi, soleil," from Gounod's Romeo et Juliette, with the Bayerisches Staatsoper under Bertrand de Billy setting Kaufmann up perfectly (as they do throughout) with its delicate instrumental introduction and Kaufmann caressing his entrance in a way that nobody else can quite do these days. Other pleasures involve the two guest singers, baritone Ludovic Tézier in an excerpt from Bizet's Les pêcheurs de perles and soprano Sonya Yoncheva in Massenet's Manon. This is choice Kaufmann.
© TiVo
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Classical - Released January 1, 2013 | Decca Music Group Ltd.
German tenor Jonas Kaufmann came on the scene in the mid-1990s and has gradually risen to the top rank of the operatic world. His is a remarkable voice in many ways. Like Plácido Domingo, to whom he is a sort of German opposite number, he excels in both Italian and German opera and also sings well in French and English (in an odd performance of a piece from Weber's Oberon, track 17). He adds freely dramatic shaping to lines of the big Verdi and Puccini tunes, almost always defamiliarizing them in ways that seem personal and passionate, with a bit of vocal gravel applied at just the right moment. Kaufmann has done his part to rediscover a languishing repertory, in his case verismo opera from around the turn of the century, and this Best of Jonas Kaufmann collection may be worth the price simply for the little-heard Ombra di nube of Licinio Refice (track 15). The collection represents a good mix of standards and innovative thinking. And, through it all, there's the kind of power that just doesn't come along often. It took a while for general listeners to wake up to the fact that Kaufmann is close to the best out there. This collection draws on recordings made between 2002 and 2010, with a variety of orchestras that are all completely overshadowed by Kaufmann's vocal artistry. It's a fine place to start with a singer well on his way to becoming a household name like the great voices of the past.
© TiVo
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Classical - Released June 20, 2020 | Planet Blue Records
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The Qobuz Minute #42
Presented by Barry Moore, The Qobuz Minute sweeps you away to the 4 corners of the musical universe to bring you an eclectic mix of today’s brightest talents. Be it Jazz, Electro, Classical, World ... -
“No acting method, no double, no mask. Just me.” – Jonas Kaufmann
In preparation for the Royal Opera House Covent Garden’s live screening of Manon Lescaut at 120 cinemas nationwide in France on 24th June, operatic superstar Jonas Kaufmann and Kasper Holten, Direc...
