BARITONE | BASS
David Steffens
Representation: World
- Alexander Brunner
- +43 (0)5 06 80-011
- brunner@machreich-artists.com
GALLERY
BIOGRAPHY
David Steffens grew up in Bad Reichenhall, Bavaria, receiving his musical training at the Mozarteum Salzburg with Prof. Horiana Branisteanu, Josef Wallnig, Eike Gramss and Wolfgang Holzmair. The Cusanuswerk (Bonn) supported him during his studies. As the best graduate of his year, he was awarded the Lilli Lehmann Medal of the International Mozarteum Foundation and the Gottlob Frick Medal. He attended master classes with Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau, Ruggero Raimondi, Christa Ludwig, Thomas Hampson, Helmut Deutsch, Rudolf Piernay, Francisco Araiza and Thomas Moser.
David made his stage debut at the Salzburg Landestheater as Bartolo in Le Nozze di Figaro, was subsequently engaged in the International Opera Studio at the Zurich Opera House and first appeared at the Salzburg Festival as part of the Young Singers Project as Sarastro in Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart's Die Zauberflöte. From 2012 to 2014 David Steffens was a member of the ensemble at the Stadttheater Klagenfurt.
Since the 2015/16 season, David Steffens has been a member of the ensemble at the Stuttgart State Opera, where he has since then appeared in a wide variety of roles, including the title role of Mozart's Le nozze di Figaro, Sarastro (Die Zauberflöte), Oroveso (Norma), Escamillo (Carmen), Heinrich der Vogler (Lohengrin), Fasolt (Das Rheingold), Pimen (Boris Godunow) and Baron Ochs auf Lerchenau (Der Rosenkavalier).
In addition to his ensemble activities in Stuttgart David Steffens is also a regular guest at other opera houses, appearing at the Salzburg Mozart Week in a new production of Mozart's Die Entführung aus dem Serail conducted by René Jacobs, at the Deutsche Oper am Rhein, the Semperoper Dresden, the Teatro Real in Madrid, the Théâtre des Champs-Elysées, the Opéra National de Lyon, the Opéra National du Rhin in Strasbourg, the Dutch National Opera in Amsterdam and the Vienna Volksoper.
At the Salzburg Festival David Steffens has so far appeared in Richard Strauss' Salome conducted by Franz Welser-Möst, in George Enescu's Œdipe under Ingo Metzmacher and as Masetto in a new production of Mozart's Don Giovanni staged by Romeo Castellucci and conducted by Teodor Currentzis. He made his debut at the St. Gallen Festival as Quasimodo in Franz Schmidt's rarely performed opera Notre Dame.
As part of a new tetralogy of Wagner's Der Ring des Nibelungen presented by the Stuttgart State Opera and conducted by Cornelius Meister, David Steffen’s upcoming appearances in the current season 2022/2023 include Hunding in Die Walküre, Fasolt in Das Rheingold and Fafner in Siegfried. In addition, he also makes two important house debuts as Sarastro at the Aalto Theatre in Essen and as Ochs auf Lerchenau in Der Rosenkavalier at the Berlin State Opera, further to his role debut as Sarastro at Dresden’s Semperoper.
In the current season, David Steffens is also giving his debut with the Orchestra del Maggio Musicale Fiorentino as soloist in Bach's Kreuzstabkantate BWV 56 and in Bruckner's Te Deum, both conducted by Zubin Mehta. As a sought-after concert singer, David Steffens has been invited to venues such as the Berlin Philharmonie, the Pierre Boulez Saal, the Gewandhaus Leipzig, the Herkulessaal Munich, the Festspielhaus St. Pölten and the Forum am Schlosspark in Ludwigsburg, further appearing as a Lied singer at the Schubertiade Hohenems, the International Hugo Wolf Academy in Stuttgart and the Vienna Konzerthaus.
David Steffens has performed with orchestras such as the Berlin Philharmonic, the MDR Radio Symphony Orchestra Leipzig, the Stuttgart Philharmonic, the Tonkunstler Orchestra, the Danish National Symphony Orchestra and the Orchestre Symphonique de Montréal, working with conductors such as Sir Simon Rattle, Zubin Mehta, Kent Nagano, Ingo Metzmacher, Ivor Bolton, Christoph von Dohnányi, Peter Schneider, Theodor Guschlbauer, Cornelius Meister and Teodor Currentzis.
2022 | 2023
This biography is to be reproduced without any changes, omissions or additions, unless expressly authorized by artist management.
DISCOGRAPHY
Richard Strauss: Salome
John Daszak, Anna Maria Chiuri, Asmik Grigorian, Gábor Bretz, Julian Prégardien, Avery Amereau, David Steffens et al.
Wiener Philharmoniker
Conductor: Franz Welser-Möst
Director: Romeo Castellucci
Label: Unitel Classics | 2019
Giuseppe Verdi: Un Giorno di Regno
Gocha Abuladze, Davide Fersini, Valda Wilson, Elisabeth Jansson, Giuseppe Talamo, David Steffens et al.
Cappella Aquileia | Czech Philharmonic Choir Brno
Conductor: Marcus Bosch
Live-Recording
Label: Coviello Classics | 2018
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart: Die Freimaurermusiken
Jan Kobow, Maximilian Kiener, David Steffens
Salzburger Hofmusik
Conductor: Wolfgang Brunner
Label: CPO | 2017
CALENDAR
Richard Wagner: Das Rheingold
Goran Jurić, Wotan
Paweł Konik, Donner
Matthias Klink, Loge
Robin Adams, Alberich
Elmar Gilbertsson, Mime
David Steffens, Fasolt
Liang Li, Fafner
Rachael Wilson, Fricka
Esther Dierkes, Freia
Stine Marie Fischer, Erda
Ida Ränzlöv, Wellgunde
Aytaj Shikhalizade, Floßhilde
Staatsorchester Stuttgart
Cornelius Meister, conductor
Richard Wagner: Das Rheingold
Richard Wagner: Die Walküre
Michael König, Siegmund
Simone Schneider, Sieglinde
David Steffens, Hunding
Okka von der Damerau, Brünnhilde
Wotan N.N.
Annika Schlicht, Fricka
Staatsorchester Stuttgart
Cornelius Meister, conductor
Richard Wagner: Siegfried
Daniel Brenna, Siegfried
Matthias Klink, Mime
Tommi Hakala, Der Wanderer
N.N., Alberich
David Steffens, Fafner
Beate Ritter, Stimme eines Waldvogels
Stine Marie Fischer, Erda
Simone Schneider, Brünnhilde
Staatsorchester Stuttgart
Cornelius Meister, conductor
Richard Wagner: Das Rheingold
Goran Jurić, Wotan
Paweł Konik, Donner
Matthias Klink, Loge
Robin Adams, Alberich
Elmar Gilbertsson, Mime
David Steffens, Fasolt
Liang Li, Fafner
Rachael Wilson, Fricka
Esther Dierkes, Freia
Stine Marie Fischer, Erda
Ida Ränzlöv, Wellgunde
Aytaj Shikhalizade, Floßhilde
Staatsorchester Stuttgart
Cornelius Meister, conductor
Stephan Kimmig, stage director
