David Steffens

David Steffens © Matthias Baus

BARITONE | BASS

Representation: World

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BIOGRAPHY

"You rarely find such a beautiful bass voice." - Süddeutsche Zeitung

"David Steffens impresses with an immense full bass" - Der Standard

"Born in 1984, bass David Steffens [...] made it unmistakably clear that he also fulfils the criteria for a successful role debut. Born in Upper Bavaria, he has the role [editor's note: of Ochs auf Lerchenau] palpably in his blood and has all the vocal and dramatic prerequisites for it. With rich depth, long breath, exemplary text comprehensibility and witty humour, he increasingly pulled out all the stops of his ability. [...] We can still have high hopes for this Ochs."

J. M. Wienecke, Das Opernglas, November 2021

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 attended master classes with Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau, Ruggero Raimondi, Christa Ludwig, Thomas Hampson, Helmut Deutsch, Rudolf Piernay, Francisco Araiza and Thomas Moser.

After making his stage debut at the Salzburg Landestheater as Bartolo in Le Nozze di Figaro, he was accepted into the International Opera Studio at the Opernhaus Zürich and debuted as Sarastro at the Salzburg Festival through its Young Singers Project production of Mozart's Die Zauberflöte. From 2012 until 2014 he was a member of the ensemble at the Stadttheater Klagenfurt.

David Steffens has been a member of the Stuttgart State Opera ensemble since the 2015/16 season, where he has appeared in a variety of roles, including as Sarastro (Die Zauberflöte), Heinrich der Vogler (Lohengrin), Fasolt (Das Rheingold), Hunding (Die Walküre), Fafner (Siegfried), Gurnemanz (Parsifal), Pimen (Boris Godunow), Baron Ochs auf Lerchenau (Der Rosenkavalier) and Jochanaan (Salome). This season, David Steffens will also be appearing in Stuttgart for the first time as Veit Pogner in Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg.

Alongside his ensemble engagements in Stuttgart, David Steffens appears as a regular guest on the international opera stage including 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.

At the Salzburg Festival, David Steffens appeared in 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, while he was also heard for the first time at the Bregenz Festival as Kaspar in Weber's Der Freischütz.

David Steffens has made prominent house debuts as Sarastro at the Aalto Theater Essen and as Ochs auf Lerchenau in Der Rosenkavalier at the Staatsoper Berlin, followed by role debuts as Félix in Donizetti's Les Martyrs at the MusikTheater an der Wien and as König Marke in Wagner's Tristan und Isolde at the Opéra de Lille. The current season sees a return to the Staatsoper Berlin, where he will be heard as Osmin in a new production of Mozart's Die Entführung aus dem Serail conducted by Thomas Guggeis and staged by Andrea Moses, while he will make his role debut as Wotan in a new production of Wagner's Das Rheingold at the Staatstheater Meiningen.

Mahler's Eighth Symphony has featured as a core work in David Steffens calendar, having previously appeared as a soloist with the Orchestre Symphonique de Montréal under Kent Nagano, the NDR Radiophilharmonie under Ingo Metzmacher, the Orquesta Nacional de España under David Afkham, the NHK Symphony Orchestra under Fabio Luisi and the Tonkünstler-Orchester Niederösterreich under Yutaka Sado. In the current season, he will also appear as the Pater Profundus once again, this time with the Danish National Symphony Orchestra in Copenhagen. Further engagements include the voice of the Lord in Franz Schmidt's oratorio The Book with Seven Seals with the Vienna Symphony Orchestra under Fabio Luisi at the Vienna Konzerthaus and - with the Slovak Philharmonic Orchestra under Daniel Raiskin - at the Bratislava Music Festival. Haydn's The Seasons, on the other hand, will be the focus of two concerts by the Frankfurt Museum Orchestra under the direction of Thomas Guggeis.

A sought-after concert singer, David Steffens has appeared at Vienna Musikverein, Berlin Philharmonie, Pierre Boulez Saal, Gewandhaus Leipzig, Herkulessaal in Munich, the Auditorio Nacional de Música in Madrid and the NHK Hall in Tokyo. As a recitalist he has appeared at the Schubertiade in 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, the Orchestre Symphonique de Montréal and the NHK Symphony Orchestra. He has worked alongside conductors such as Ivor Bolton, Teodor Currentzis, Christoph von Dohnányi, Tomáš Hanus, Axel Kober, Fabio Luisi, Zubin Mehta, Cornelius Meister, Ingo Metzmacher, Franz Welser-Möst, Kent Nagano, Sir Simon Rattle and Peter Schneider.

2025 | 2026

www.davidsteffens.com

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

VIDEOS

CALENDAR

13Jul2025
David Steffens
STUTTGART - Mahler VIII
Kultur- und Kongresszentrum Liederhalle, 11:00 am

Riccarda Merbeth, Soprano I
Simone Schneider, Soprano II
Natasha Te Rupe Wilson, Soprano III
Stine Marie Fischer, Alto I
Maria Theresa Ullrich, Alto II
Benjamin Bruns, Tenor
Johannes Kammler, Baritone
David Steffens, Bass

Cornelius Meister, Conductor
Staatsorchester Stuttgart
Staatsopernchor & Kinderchor Stuttgart
Manuel Pujol, Rehearsal master Staatsopernchor Stuttgart
Bernhard Moncado, Rehearsal master Kinderchor

With Gustav Mahler's monumental Eighth Symphony, Cornelius Meister and the State Orchestra continue their Mahler cycle and, together with eight vocal soloists, the children's choir and the State Opera Choir, bring the symphony concert series to a crowning conclusion. Shortly after completing the score, Mahler said in 1907: "The symphony must be like the world. It must encompass everything". This central credo for Mahler is reflected in the variety of forms and musical characters of his Eighth Symphony. Baroque fugue techniques can be found in it as well as a tonal language influenced by Richard Wagner. The first and only two performances during his lifetime were Mahler's greatest triumph. After the premiere in 1910, Thomas Mann commented that Mahler embodied "the most serious and sacred artistic will of our time".

FURTHER INFORMATION & TICKETS

14Jul2025
David Steffens
STUTTGART - Mahler VIII
Kultur- und Kongresszentrum Liederhalle, 07:30 pm

FURTHER INFORMATION & TICKETS

18Jul2025
Mauro Peter

David Steffens
BREGENZ - Weber: Der Freischütz
Bregenzer Festspiele | Seebühne, 09:15 pm