Biography
Thomas Quasthoff
German bass-baritone Thomas Quasthoff is recognized as one of the most remarkable singers performing today.
Since making his US debut at the Oregon Bach Festival with Helmuth Rilling, he has sung with the New York Philharmonic, Boston Symphony Orchestra in Boston and at Carnegie Hall, Chicago Symphony, Cleveland Orchestra, San Francisco Symphony, Los Angeles Philharmonic and the Pittsburgh Symphony under the batons of Daniel Barenboim, Colin Davis, Christoph Eschenbach, Mariss Jansons, Kurt Masur, Loren Maazel, Ricardo Muti, Seiji Ozawa and Franz Welser-Moest. In recital, he has performed at Carnegie Hall, Lincoln Center and the Kennedy Center and on the major recital series in San Francisco, Chicago, Los Angeles, Boston, Toronto and Atlanta and made appearances at the Ravinia, Tanglewood and Mostly Mozart festivals and the Hollywood Bowl.
In Europe, Mr. Quasthoff regularly appears with the most distinguished orchestras such as the Berlin Philharmonic, Vienna Philharmonic, London Philharmonic Orchestra and London Symphony Orchestra under such eminent conductors as Sir Simon Rattle, Claudio Abbado, Bernard Haitink and Daniel Barenboim. Much in demand as a recitalist, he frequently sings in the major recital halls in Berlin, Vienna, Salzburg, Paris, Amsterdam and London.
A frequent guest at Carnegie Hall, Mr. Quasthoff's appearances there include the opening concert of the 2001/02 season with the Berlin Philharmonic led by Claudio Abbado, a recital with Angela Denoke with Daniel Barenboim at the keyboard and two solo recitals with pianist Justus Zeyen. During the 06/07 season, he was one of Carnegie Hall's Perspective Artists and performed with the Cleveland Orchestra and presented an evening of American popular song with five well known jazz musicians. Mr. Quasthoff returns to Carnegie in 2007/08 to appear with Berlin Philharmonic and the Boston Symphony and in recital with Ian Bostridge and Dorothea Roeschmann.
In April, 2003 Thomas Quasthoff made his first staged opera appearance as Don Fernando in Fidelio with Sir Simon Rattle conducting the Berlin Philharmonic in Salzburg. Since then he has sung the role of Amfortas in a highly acclaimed production of Wagner's Parsifal at the Vienna State Opera with both Donald Runnicles and Sir Simon Rattle conducting.
Thomas Quasthoff has amassed an impressive discography which includes recordings for BMG, Haenssler, EMI-Electrola, Philips and the Bayer labels. An exclusive Deutsche Grammophon recording artist since 1999, recent DG projects include German romantic arias with the orchestra of the Deutsche Oper Berlin with Christian Thielemann, Mahler's Songs of a Wayfarer with Pierre Boulez and the Vienna Philharmonic and recital discs of lieder by Brahms, Liszt and Schubert with pianist Justus Zeyen. His first recording for DG, Mahler's Des Knaben Wunderhorn with Anne Sofie von Otter and the Berlin Philharmonic conducted by Claudio Abbado, received the 1999 Grammy Award for best vocal performance. In February, 2004 Mr. Quasthoff won a second Grammy for his recording of the orchestrated songs of Schubert with the Chamber Orchestra of Europe and Claudio Abbado and a third Grammy was awarded to him in February 2006 for his recording of Bach Cantatas with the Berlin Baroque Soloists. Mr. Quasthoff's most recent releases are an album of sacred arias by Bach, Handel, Haydn and Mendelssohn and Watch What Happens, The Jazz Album.
The subject of numerous articles in the national press including Time, People and Esquire magazines, Mr. Quasthoff has been profiled on the CBS news programs 60 Minutes and 60 Minutes Two as well as on the NBC Nightly News with Tom Brokaw. A German television documentary about Mr. Quasthoff was awarded "The Golden Camera", the equivalent of an American Emmy Award. Mr. Quasthoff's biography was recently published in Europe and a translated version will be available in the US in 2007.
Thomas Quasthoff began his vocal studies with Professor Charlotte Lehmann and Professor Huber-Contwig (musicology) in Hannover, Germany and his international career was launched when he was awarded First Prize in the 1988 ARD International Music Competition in Munich.
A dedicated teacher and advocate for young vocalists, Mr. Quasthoff was a professor at the Music Academy in Detmold, Germany from 1996-2004. He was appointed Professor of Music at the Hanns Eisler School for Music in Berlin in October 2004.