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Who Is Jonas Kaufmann, The German Opera Singer Often Called 'the World's Greatest Tenor'?
29 November 2023, 16:08
Jonas Kaufmann, world-leading German tenor, performs at Sydney Opera House in 2023. Picture: Getty Meet leading German tenor Jonas Kaufmann – one of today's best-loved and most in-demand opera singers.
Jonas Kaufmann is an internationally beloved opera star, often billed as 'the world's greatest tenor'.
Known for his astonishing vocal versatility, the German tenor has performed in many of the world's top opera houses, with over 70 roles under his belt.
He is just as at home on the concert platform, appearing with leading orchestras and conductors, from the Vienna Philharmonic and Cleveland Symphony Orchestra to the Berlin Philharmonic under Sir Simon Rattle.
Ahead of his performance at the UEFA EURO 2024 final tournament draw in Hamburg, here's all you need to know about opera star Jonas Kaufmann.
Read more: 'If you destroy the arts, what is left?' tenor Jonas Kaufmann's message to political leaders
Jonas Kaufmann was born on 10 July 1969 in Munich, Germany.
His mother was a kindergarten teacher and his father worked in insurance, and while neither were musicians, music was at the heart of the Kaufmann household.
Young Jonas grew up listening to his father's records and attending children's concerts at the Bavarian State Opera. He took up piano lessons aged eight, although didn't much take to it.
But after years of hearing his grandfather play Wagner's opera music at the piano while singing the various parts, Kaufmann's lifelong love for opera was born.
Read more: 25 best opera singers of all time
A young Jonas Kaufmann sings in concert. Picture: GettyKaufmann's love of music was nurtured in primary and secondary school, where he performed in school choirs. At university, on the advice of his parents, he began a course in mathematics, but soon realised it wasn't for him and dropped out after two terms.
His formal music eduation began when he secured a place at Munich's University for Music and Theatre. During his time as a student there, he would also perform in local opera productions. After graduating in 1994, Kaufmann started performing in operas around Germany, and in 1997 sang abroad for the first time – in Mozart's Così fan tutte, in Milan.
He then returned to Germany, and began a musical partnership with pianist Helmut Deutsch, performing art songs and lieder, and touring and recording albums together.
In 2000, Kaufmann began a permanent engagement at the Zürich Opera, and the following year he performed in the US for the first time, singing Cassio in the Chicago Lyric Opera's production of Verdi's Otello.
His big break arrived in 2006, the year of his debut with New York's Metropolitan Opera where he sang Alfredo in Verdi's La Traviata to an ecstatic audience. Stardom ensued for the German singer, and the international offers began to flood in.
Jonas Kaufmann - Turandot, Atto III: "Nessun Dorma"
In the mid 2000s Kaufmann started out with many of the most famous tenor roles in opera, like Alfredo, and Don José in Bizet's Carmen. But it was in Puccini where he made his mark, with acclaimed performances of Cavaradossi in Tosca and Chevalier des Grieux in Manon Lescaut. Andréa Chenier by Umberto Giordano, is another iconic opera role of the German singer.
Since 2010, Kaufmann has been singing much more Wagner, showcasing the full heft of his voice. He has played the title roles in both Lohengrin and Parsifal, and appeared in the heroic roles of Tristan in Tristan and Isolde and Siegfried in The Ring Cycle. In 2022 at the Vienna State Opera, Kaufmann made his debut as Peter Grimes in Britten's much-loved opera of the same name.
Away from the opera stage you'll also find Kaufmann giving Lieder recitals, and celebrating that much-loved German song genre. He's also turned his hand to show tunes, and as a seasonal treat for the 2020 pandemic days, released a Broadway version of Mariah Carey's seasonal staple 'All I Want for Christmas is You'.
Read more: The painfully funny alto part of Mariah Carey's 'All I Want for Christmas is You'
All I Want For Christmas Is You
Jonas Kaufmann is what's known as a 'spinto' tenor – meaning his voice has the usual sort of range as a regular tenor, but with a much weightier sound. People often remark that Kaufmann sounds almost like a baritone, but singing in a tenor register.
Spinto literally means 'pushed' in Italian, and these tenors are suited to big, dramatic roles, particularly in Puccini and late Verdi, with sonorous lines above a full orchestra and roaring high notes in a show-stopping aria like 'Nessun dorma'.
In recent years, and as his voice has developed in his 40s and early 50s, Kaufmann has branched out into 'heldentenor' tenor roles. It's a natural successor to the spinto but turned up a level, with an even bigger sound needed to power over some of the biggest orchestras in all opera.
Jonas Kaufmann performs at the TCBO Gala Concert in Bologna, Italy in 2020. Picture: GettyKaufmann has been married twice, first to the mother of his three eldest children, mezzo-soprano Margarete Joswig.
After Kaufmann and Joswig divorced, Kaufmann married opera director Christiane Lutz in 2018, and the couple welcomed a child soon after.
Read more: Andrea Bocelli's children: Who are Matteo, Amos and Virginia?
Tenor Jonas Kaufmann, his wife Christiane Lutz and their son Valentin at a concert in Munich, 2022. Picture: GettyKaufmann sings in German, French and Italian, and obliges interviewers by speaking in the same range, including English.
The tenor has dual German and Austrian citizenship, and currently resides mainly in Salzburg, Austria.
Kaufmann's most acclaimed albums are Verismo Arias (2010), The Verdi Album (2013), Nessun Dorma – The Puccini Album (2015) and Dolce Vita (2016).
In recent years he has branched out into the mainstream with a Christmas album, It's Christmas! (2021), and a film release The Sound of Movies (2023), which includes an operatic rendition of 'Now We Are Free' from Gladiator.
Jonas Kaufmann - Nelle tue mani [Now We Are Free] (From "Gladiator")
10 Lost Albums From Famous Rock Musicians
The phrase "rock opera" is attributed to any collection of rock songs that tell one cohesive story; like a concept album, but with more screaming.
There have been plenty of examples of great ones over the years, from The Who's Tommy to David Bowie's Ziggy Stardust record, and a famous band from the 90s very nearly added their name to that list.
Songs from the Black Hole is an unreleased rock opera from Weezer, recorded between 1994 and 1996. Anyone who knows their Weezer will recognise that those two dates saw the release of the band's first and second albums.
It was meant to be an exploration of Rivers Cuomo's feelings of doubt over their debut album's roaring success, with a whopping 33 songs scheduled for inclusion.
Eventually, Cuomo pivoted to writing more introspective and serious material, which is what led to the band's second record, Pinkerton.
He didn't scrap all of Songs from the Black Hole though, as the tracks Devotion and I Just Threw Out the Love of My Dreams were released as Pinkerton B-sides.
Two songs out of 33 - that's a little over 6%.
Still, better than nothing.
Matteo Bocelli Brings Pop Music, Not Opera, To Mesa This Weekend
"I'm Here" is not only a love song from Matteo Bocelli's self-titled debut album — it's also an official proclamation of his arrival into music as a pop star.Some people might think that the 26-year-old would follow in the footsteps of his famous tenor father, opera and classical music singer Andrea Bocelli, but the younger Bocelli is leaving the nest and soaring to find his own place in the industry, starting with a world tour that stops at the Mesa Arts Center on Nov. 28.
"The truth is that myself, I grew up listening to pop music," he says. "I was listening to Eminem, Queen and Lionel Richie. So this is truly who I am. And I've been able to express myself completely, you know, with my music, with this album."
In the song's video, filmed at the Auditorium Giovanni Arvedi in Cremona, Italy, Bocelli sits playing at a piano while dancers move about the stag. Bocelli, an arrestingly handsome young man, sings, "I've practiced saying this a thousand times / I'm still in love with you."
He won't say exactly who the song is about, but he admits that it's about a specific person.
"If you explain exactly your story behind the song, then you could limit the fantasy of the listeners," he explains in his Italian lilt. "I think what you get from my performance, from the lyrics, the truth is, I would say, explained and clear. But yes, I always try to leave the imagination, you know, to the people."
It's a sad song about the loss of love, but it's also a perfect example of the heart and soul of this, his first album. Each piano-laden ballad is an emotional tribute to passion, whether that be heartbreak or bliss. It's also a journey that took nearly five years to complete.
"Well, it took a long time for different reasons," Bocelli explains. After he completed a duet with his father called "Fall on Me" in 2018, he signed with Capitol Records and began working with composers. "But unfortunately, COVID happened in between. So we lost a lot of time. But, you know, I always try to see the glass half full and not half empty. I was able to write more, understand better where I wanted to go with the sound."
Ed Sheeran helped him in that regard — not only with co-writing the song "Chasing Stars" that appears on the album but also how to navigate the business without losing your identity. He admits to being a little intimidated by the singer at first because of preconceived notions of working with a celebrity. But it turns out that Sheeran taught him an important lesson.
"He grew up and he evolved in his career," Bocelli says of Sheeran. "A lot of people wanted him to do things in a certain way, they wanted him to act in a certain way, you know, to be aesthetic in a certain way and he always refused. And so, he really knows the importance of feeling free to make music, because you've got be authentic to music. You cannot be, you know, fake. And so that's how he acted. That was his attitude with me. He let me work in my own way, express in my own way."
Having one of the world's most famous tenors as a father adds a little more pressure to being an independent artist. Some people might have expected him to go into opera or classical music. Although Bocelli didn't go fully in that direction, his dad had prepared him for something just as important: fame.
Growing up, young Bocelli was constantly in the spotlight. His family was under constant scrutiny from the public and the press. He says his dad always protected him from that and he lived somewhere in between fantasy and reality. That balance allowed him to enjoy the perks of fame such as traveling the world, but also kept him seeing the world as it really is. He never wants to change that part of himself.
"What I always say to my friends is if ever you see me like, you know, different, just say it to me now because I don't want to change, and I think this is kind of the fear that every artist has," he says. "I want to be who I am, you know. I don't want to be a different person. That's why every time I go back from tour, I want to be with my friends, with the people that raised me up, because they're the people that still keep me grounded."
It's not just people who keep him grounded. Away from the studio and stage, Bocelli likes to work with his hands. He collects World War II jeeps called Willys. "I disassemble them. I completely sand them, and I repaint them and I do a complete restoration and that's what I like to do in my free time when I'm home."
Bocelli is currently single; he thinks his busy schedule takes too much of his time to devote to someone right now
"Every time I decide to, you know, to get into a relationship, I always take it seriously. But I'm 26 and, I don't know, live [for] the day."
The singer's upcoming performance in Mesa will be his second one in Arizona on this tour. The first will be in Wickenburg two days prior. Although he has passed through the state before, he wants to get out and explore it this time while the weather is good.
Bocelli's first album may mark his coming out as a solo pop artist, but it's a lot more than that. He says people were probably expecting him to do crossovers, or because of his last name, opera. But the album represents the son of a famous artist coming into his own.
"I always try to be positive and most of all, I'm very happy and satisfied about the results of this first album," he says, "I think this is what counts the most."
Matteo Bocelli: 7:30 p.M., Tuesday, Nov. 28, Mesa Arts Center, 1 E. Main St., Mesa. Tickets are $45 to $65.
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