BARITONE | BASS
David Steffens
Representation: World
- Alexander Brunner
- +43 (0)5 06 80-011
- brunner@machreich-artists.com
GALLERY
BIOGRAPHY
David Steffens received his musical training at the Mozarteum University Salzburg with Prof. Horiana Branisteanu, Josef Wallnig, Eike Gramss and Wolfgang Holzmair. During his studies, he was awarded the coveted Lilli Lehmann Medal of the International Mozarteum Foundation and the Gottlob Frick Medal for excellence, and 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 Opernhaus Zürich and debuted as Sarastro at the Salzburg Festival as part of its Young Singers Project production of Mozart's Die Zauberflöte. From 2012 until 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 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 Godunov) and Baron Ochs auf Lerchenau (Der Rosenkavalier).
Alongside his ensemble engagements in Stuttgart, David Steffens appears as a regular guest on other opera stages, such as the Salzburg Mozart Week, Berlin State Opera, Dusseldorf’s Deutsche Oper am Rhein, the Semperoper Dresden, Teatro Real in Madrid, Théâtre des Champs-Elysées in Paris, the Opéra national de Lyon, Opéra national du Rhin in Strasbourg, the Dutch National Opera in Amsterdam and Volksoper Wien.
His further appearances at the Salzburg Festival have included Richard Strauss' Salome, in George Enescu's Œdipe and as Masetto in a new production of Mozart's Don Giovanni staged by Romeo Castellucci. 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 Stuttgart State Opera and conducted by Cornelius Meister, David Steffen’s recent roles have included Hunding in Die Walküre, Fasolt in Das Rheingold and Fafner in Siegfried. In addition, he made 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 will make his house debut at the MusikTheater an der Wien as Félix in Donizetti's Les Martyrs, and sing for the first time König Marke in Wagner's Tristan und Isolde at the Opéra de Lille.
Having previously appeared as Pater Profundus in Gustav Mahler's Eighth Symphony with the NDR Radiophilharmonie under Ingo Metzmacher and the Orquesta Nacional de España under David Afkham, the coming season will see David Steffens perform the solo part once again in Tokyo with the NHK Symphony Orchestra under Fabio Luisi, before his debut at the Vienna Musikverein for Schubert's Mass in A flat major with the Concentus Musicus Wien under Stefan Gottfried. Furthermore, David Steffens will also make his first appearance at the International Brucknerfest Linz as soloist in Ethel Smyth's Mass in D major.
A sought-after concert singer, David Steffens has so far appeared at 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 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 Tonkünstler Orchestra of Lower Austria, the Orchestra del Maggio Musicale Fiorentino, the Danish National Symphony Orchestra and the Orchestre Symphonique de Montréal, working alongside conductors such as Ivor Bolton, Teodor Currentzis, Christoph von Dohnányi, Theodor Guschlbauer, Zubin Mehta, Cornelius Meister, Ingo Metzmacher, Franz Welser-Möst, Kent Nagano, Sir Simon Rattle and Peter Schneider.
2023 | 2024
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
Gustav Mahler: Symphony No. 8 in E-flat Major - 'Symphonie der Tausend'
Elena Stikhina, Soprano
Valentina Farcas, Soprano
Rie Miyake, Soprano
Olesya Petrova, Alto
Catriona Morison, Alt
Michael Schade, Tenor
Luke Sutliff, Baritone
David Steffens, Bass
NHK Symphony Orchestra
New National Theatre Chorus
NHK Tokyo Children Chorus
Fabio Luisi, Conductor
Gustav Mahler: Symphony No. 8 in E-flat Major - 'Symphonie der Tausend'
Elena Stikhina, Soprano
Valentina Farcas, Soprano
Rie Miyake, Soprano
Olesya Petrova, Alto
Catriona Morison, Alt
Michael Schade, Tenor
Luke Sutliff, Baritone
David Steffens, Bass
NHK Symphony Orchestra
New National Theatre Chorus
NHK Tokyo Children Chorus
Fabio Luisi, Conductor
Franz Schubert: Die Winterreise, D 911, op 89
David Steffens, Bass
Akemi Murakami, Piano
Franz Schubert: Die Winterreise, D 911, op 89
David Steffens, Bass
Akemi Murakami, Piano
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart: Die Zauberflöte, KV 620
David Steffens, Sarastro, Speaker
Mingjie Lei, Tamino
Beate Ritter, Königin der Nacht
Claudia Muschio, Pamina
Catriona Smith, Erste Dame
Shannon Keegan, Zweite Dame
Stine Marie Fischer, Dritte Dame
Björn Bürger, Papageno
Lucia Tumminelli, Papagena
Elmar Gilbertsson, Monostatos
Moritz Kallenberg, Erster Geharnischter
Andrew Bogard, Zweiter Geharnischter
conductor
Barrie Kosky, Suzanne Andrade, director
Esther Bialas, stage and costumes
Diego Leetz, light
Paul Barritt, animation
Bernhard Moncado, choir
Staatsorchester Stuttgart, Staatsopernchor Stuttgart
