Contact
Clara Rempecr@karstenwitt.com+49 30 214 594-233
Elia Merguetel@karstenwitt.com+49 30 214 594-225
General Management
In an interview with German music critic Eleonore Büning, Christoph Prégardien muses about empathy and stage fright, talk of a lieder crisis and the sins of concert promoters.
No panic – Christoph Prégardien, one of the leading tenors of our time, is still on tour as a soloist. However, considering the success of his St. John and St. Matthew Passions it is no surprise that the singer will increasingly be seen on the conductor’s podium.
works by Schubert, Mahler and Beethoven
Christoph Prégardien, tenor
Michael Gees, piano
works by Schubert and Beethoven
Franziska Hölscher, violin
Jens Peter Maintz, violoncello
Daniel Heide, piano
His lyric tenor voice had a youthful glow, yet he sang with plaintive beauty and piercing insight. The New York Times
Precise vocal control, clear diction, intelligent musicality, and an ability to get to the heart of everything he sings all ensure Christoph Prégardien’s place among the world’s foremost lyric tenors. Especially revered as a Lieder singer, he kicks off the 2021/2022 season together with pianist Julius Drake at the Chopin and his Europe Festival, before the pair give joint recitals in the Boulez Saal Berlin and frequently at Schubertiade Schwarzenberg/Hohenems. Additional appearances include concerts with Michael Gees at the Oxford Lieder Festival, with Stefan Litwin at the Schwetzinger SWR Festival, with Magnus Svensson at Konserthuset Stockholm, and with Roger Vignoles in ‘s-Hertogenbosch. Further, he will be part of Beethoven’s Missa solemnis performed by Duisburg Philharmonic Orchestra under Christoph Spering, and present special father & son programmes together with his son Julian Prégardien in collaboration with Würth Philharmonic orchestra conducted by Alondra de la Parra, as well as in a recital at Schwetzingen SWR Festival with Michael Gees.
Christoph Prégardien regularly appears with renowned orchestras the world over. He has worked with the Berlin and Vienna Philharmonics, the Amsterdam Concertgebouw Orchestra, the Philharmonia Orchestra, the Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France, as well as the Boston and San Francisco Symphonies, alongside conductors such as Barenboim, Metzmacher, and Thielemann. His wide orchestral repertoire includes the great baroque, classical, and Romantic oratorios and passions, as well as works from the 17th and 20th centuries. In opera, his roles have included, among others, Tamino, Almaviva, Fenton (Falstaff), Don Ottavio, Titus, Ulisse, and Idomeneo.
His extensive experience singing the Evangelist roles, together with his close working relationship with conductors such as Nagano, Chailly, Herreweghe, Harnoncourt, Luisi, and Gardiner, have provided the perfect base for his increasing dedication to conducting the works of Bach. Following the success of his conducting debut in 2012, leading Le Concert Lorrain and the Nederlands Kammerkoor, he currently regularly conducts renowned ensembles like Balthasar-Neumann Choir, Dresdner Kammerchor, and the Collegium Vocale Gent. In the spring 2022 he will conduct the Basel Chamber Orchestra and RIAS Kammerchor performing Bach’s St John’s Passion in Lucerne and Basel.
The singer has recorded much of his repertoire on a discography of over 150 albums, which have received awards such as the Orphée d’Or of the Académie du Disque Lyrique, the Edison Award, the Cannes Classical Award, and the Diapason d’Or. For the label Challenge Classics, he has recorded Schubert’s Schwanengesang with Andreas Staier and Die schöne Müllerin with Michael Gees, which was selected as Editor’s Choice by Gramophone magazine and awarded the MIDEM Record of the Year. Shortly thereafter followed recordings of Hugo Wolf’s Italienisches Liederbuch with Julia Kleiter, Between Life and Death, Wanderer, and the Grammy-nominated Winterreise disc – all with Michael Gees – as well as Father and Son with his son Julian Prégardien. His Schubert CD Poetisches Tagebuch with Julius Drake was awarded the German Critics’ Award 2016. His most recent releases include a recording of passion cantatas by Telemann and Bach with the Vox Orchester for Sony (where he appears as a baritone for the first time), along with Schumann's Dichterliebe and Wagner's Wesendonck Lieder with Michael Gees, released by Challenge in autumn 2019. With pianist Christoph Schnackertz, he released a recording of Paderewski, Moniuszko, and Duparc songs in collaboration with the Warsaw Chopin Institute.
Teaching remains an important part of Christoph Prégardien’s musical life. Following many years at the Hochschule für Musik und Theater in Zurich, he gives masterclasses for young singers worldwide and since 2004 has been a professor at the Academy of Music in Cologne.
2021/2022 season
This biography is to be reproduced without any changes, omissions or additions, unless expressly authorised by the artist management.
Recitals
Schwanengesang with Julius Drake, pianoF. Schubert: Schwanengesang D 957 and other songs (Schlegel, Rückert)L. v. Beethoven: Adelaide, Op. 48; An die ferne Geliebte, Op. 98
Song and Lyrics with Julius Drake, pianoGoethe in settings by Schubert, Wolf, Beethoven, Liszt, Schumann et. al.
Memory with Stefan Litwin, pianoSongs by F. Schubert, G. Mahler, H. Wolf, Ch. Ives, H. Eisler et. al.
Folks song arrangements with the Oberon TrioHenja Semmler, violine; Antoaneta Emanuilova, cello; Jonathan Aner, pianoJ. Haydn: various folks song arrangements; Trio in E flat major Hob. XV:29L. v. Beethoven: various folks song arrangements; Trio in B flat major, Op. 11 'Gassenhauer'
Chamber recital with piano trioFranziska Hölscher, violin; Jens Peter Maintz, cello; Daniel Heide, pianoF. Schubert: Trio in E flat major D 897 'Notturno'; songs by various poets (partly arranged for trio)L. v. Beethoven: various folks song arrangements; Trio in B flat major, Op. 11 'Gassenhauer'
Details and further programmes on request.
father&son
Duo recitalJulian and Christoph Prégardien, tenorMichael Gees, pianoSongs by Mozart, Beethoven, Schubert, Brahms et al.The full programme can be downloaded here.
Handel's Heyday in London
Christoph Prégardien, tenorEnsemble La Centifolia, Leila Schayegh, violin and direction Excerpts from Tamerlano, Rodelinda, Samson and JephtaThe full programme can be downloaded here.
“Prégardien retains his essentially mellow sound, comfortable in the lower registers but still capable of the airy phrases and subtle dynamic gradations that have always characterised his singing. (...) Above all, he always remains true to the concept of line. His clear diction allows him to narrate and illuminate the two dozen stories the songs here contain, without the self-dramatising fear-mongering that plagues some critically acclaimed representatives of lieder singing today (...) an auspicious start to Eisenlohr’s latest endeavor.”
Opera News Online, David Shengold, June 2022 – on Vol I of Brahms Complete Songs with Ulrich Eisenlohr
“The voice sounds almost youthfully fresh, effortlessly supple and lyrical in the intimate Lieder, on the other hand capable of powerful expressivity. [...] Without pushing, Prégardien's always cultivated tenor (which is by no means restrained by its beauty) can hold its own very well [...] He convinces with exemplary diction [...] At the same time, he stretches wonderful, almost endlessly long legato arches from bright tenor spheres into earthy baritonal depths.“
tagblatt.ch, Bettina Kugler, 1 May 2022
“A sublime evening that will be cherished for a long time“ – on the Portland recital with Gloria Chien
Oregon Artswatch, James Bash, 9 March 2022
“Christoph Prégardien [...] still possesses a clear and flexible tenor, flawless diction, and an emotional expressiveness that shades from the contemplative to raw outbursts of joy and feeling. His intensity is just overwhelming.“
Crescendo Magazine, Jean Lacroix, 3 January 2020
“The performance was superb. Prégardien is one of today’s greatest Lieder singers, a consummate storyteller whose gestures and facial expressions aid in communicating the meaning and emotional content of the lyrics, and whose voice is fluidly expressive across its entire range, and especially beautiful on both top and bottom notes.“
ClassicalSource, David M. Rice, 22 October 2019
“Prégardien’s easeful articulation, his rich coloring, the diminuendos and light irony: superb!“
Tagesspiegel.de, Christiane Peitz, 17 September 2019, on his CD "Robert Schumann: Dichterliebe op.48" with Michael Gees
“How well one can follow the train of thought through the interludes and stanzas, thanks to the wealth of detail with which he relates these little stories through song; art of the highest order.“
FAZ, Guido Holze, 8 February 2019 – on songs after Heine from "Schwanengesang"
“A beautifully imaginative disc […] Prégardien floats a beautiful line, […] and Katsaris’ piano flows delicately […] his piano accompaniments take a strong character of their own, one which complements the singer and very much creates a discreet whole, even in the songs where the piano’s role is relatively straight forward.“
Planet Hugill, Robert Hugill, 20 November 2018 – on the CD “Auf den Flügeln des Gesanges. Romantic songs and piano transcriptions”
“This a quite a superlative recording that meets the desires and wishes of any Baroquophile on the quest for excellence […] The music simply washes over you with a purity and quality many seek to match.“
Early Music Review, David Bellinger, 3 June 2018, on the CD “Cantatas for Baritone” with Vox Orchestra, Sony
“Both artists brought deep insight to their roles, combining beautifully in sound and spirit, and creating no end of poignant moments.“
NY Times, James R. Oestreich, 23 February 2018, on Winterreise with Julius Drake
“His voice maintains its dark, almost baritone-like lower range, and a top that can float with the utmost delicacy in soft passages.“
Chicago Classical, John Y. Lawrence, 19 February 2018 on the recital of “Poetic Diary” with Julius Drake
“Prégardien's artistry is streamlined, focused, essential: with beauty of tenor tone absolutely intact – he is 60 – diction impeccable, emotions of text and tone fused and explored to the last degree, he is the consummate Lieder singer. […] He brought splendour, agony and ecstasy to Mahler's Lieder eines Fahrenden Gesellen first; bitterness, irony and a heady intelligence to Schumann's Dichterliebe in the second half; and those Schubert Heine settings in between are still alive and reverberating with wonder and horror somewhere in my subconscious several days on. You want it darker? Try Schubert.“
jessicamusic.blogspot.de, Jessica Duchen, 18 November 2016
“The tenor is a storyteller who avoids mannerisms: no reverb, little vibrato, no preoccupation with nice sound. However, he is constantly audible, and he does not avoid the risk. In the highest registers he also has an astonishing resilience, as demonstrated in almost hummed encore Mondnacht. British accompanist Julius Drake showed a sensitive ear for detail. In the perlentränentröpfchen, the death coffin is nailed: they were all audible in the Steinway.“
De Volkskrant, 20.11.2015 on the CD “Poetisches Tagebuch“, released on Challenge Classics, November 2015
“Much of what Prégardien did was a revelation, with such immaculate diction and attention to each musical detail that the audience hung on every word. The four songs of Mahler's Lieder eines Fahrenden Gesellen, so often presented as expressions of youthful self-pity, became a genuinely dramatic scenario, the tragedy searingly convincing. […] This was Lieder singing of the very highest class“
The Guardian, Andrew Clements, 2 November 2015
Recital with Julian Prégardien at Schwetzinger SWR Festspiele 2022
A composed song recital with Christoph Prégardien and Stefan Litwin
Christoph Prégardien: Six Songs from Schubert's "Schwanengesang"
Christoph Prégardien with the Oberon Trio @ Ludwigsburger Schlossfestspiele
Christoph Prégardien & Michael Gees: Film "Winterreise" official extended trailer (&interviews)
Christoph Prégardien, Michael Gees
Challenge Classics, 2019, CC 72788
Christoph Prégardien, Christoph Schnackertz
The Fryderyk Chopin Institute, 2019, NIFCCD 070
Christoph, Prégardien, Kammerorchester Basel, Camerata Vocale Freiburg, Winfried Toll (conductor)
Solo Musica, 2019, SM 328
Christoph Prégardien, Vox Orchester, Lorenzo Ghirlanda
Sony Music, 2018, 19075834122
Christoph Prégardien, Cyprien Katsaris
Challenge, DDD, 2017
Christoph Prégardien, Olivier Darbellay, Michael Gees
Challenge Classics, 2017, CC72771
Christoph Prégardien, Julius Drake
Challenge Classics 2015, 8327510
Christoph & Julian Prégardien, Michael Gees
Challenge Classics, 2014, CC72645
Christoph Prégardien & Michael Gees
Challenge Classics, 2013, CC72596
Christoph Prégardien, Bochumer Symphoniker, Steven Sloane
cpo, 2011, cpo777675-2
Christoph Prégardien, Julia Kleiter, Hilko Dumno
Challenge Classics, 2010, CC72378
Challenge Classics, 2009, CC72324
Christoph Prégardien, Andreas Staier
Challenge Classics, 2008, CC72302
Challenge Classics, 2008, CC72292