BARITONE | BASS
Thomas Quasthoff
Representation: World
- Helga Machreich-Unterzaucher
- +43 (0)5 06 80-012
- machreich@machreich-artists.com
GALLERY
BIOGRAPHY
For almost four decades, Thomas Quasthoff has set the standard on international stages, moving the hearts of countless listeners with his artistry. He ended his outstanding career as a singer in 2012. However, he has retained his close ties to singing and music as a teacher at the Hanns Eisler Music Academy in Berlin and in various master classes. In addition to his teaching commitments he has also discovered several new talents, appearing as a narrator, moderator and even actor.
One of the most remarkable singers in his field, Quasthoff was a frequent guest of such orchestras as the Berlin and the Vienna Philharmonics and many other fine orchestras. He could regularly be enjoyed at all major music venues, working closely with conductors such as Claudio Abbado, Daniel Barenboim, Christoph Eschenbach, James Levine, Bernard Haitink, Mariss Jansons, Zubin Mehta, Riccardo Muti, Seiji Ozawa, Sir Simon Rattle, Helmuth Rilling, Christian Thielemann, and Franz Welser-Möst. Thomas Quasthoff’s 1995 début at the Oregon Bach Festival laid the foundation for his highly successful career in the USA. Returning numerous times for appearances with the most important orchestras and festivals, he regularly appeared at New York’s Carnegie Hall following his outstanding recital début there in January 1999 (Winterreise by Schubert).
Thomas Quasthoff gave his highly acclaimed opera début in 2003 in the role of the Minister in Beethoven’s Fidelio with the Berlin Philharmonic under Sir Simon Rattle at the Salzburg Easter Festival. His extraordinary début at the Vienna Staatsoper in the role of Amfortas in Wagner’s Parsifal under Donald Runnicles followed in spring 2004. In January 2005, he returned to Vienna in the same role to perform under the baton of Sir Simon Rattle.
Thomas Quasthoff has been artist-in-residence at Vienna’s Musikverein, Amsterdam Concertgebouw, Carnegie Hall, and the Lucerne Festival, as well as in Baden-Baden, Hamburg, London Wigmore Hall, and the Barbican Centre. He released his new soul/blues/jazz program Tell it like it is in 2010, bringing him to numerous concert venues throughout Europe.
Mr. Quasthoff has something to say – and not just musically. Since his great success in the fall of 2012, where Thomas Quasthoff appeared for the first time as an actor in the role of Feste in Shakespeare’s TWELFTH NIGHT, OR WHAT YOU WILL he continued to play this role at the Berliner Ensemble for 5 years until May 2017. Further highlights of the past seasons included concerts with the Belcea Quartett where he performed in Haydn’s Seven last words as speaker, as narrator in Schönberg's Gurre-Lieder with the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra under Sir Simon Rattle and with Ingo Metzmacher in Hanover, or in Schönberg's A Survivor of Warsaw with the Vienna Radio Symphony Orchestra under Cornelius Meister and with the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra under Mariss Jansons in Munich. He performed Beethoven´s Egmont with Constantinos Carydis in Luzern and Bologna.
Thomas Quasthoff has also performed in literary recitals around Heinrich Heine with Florian Boesch and Justus Zeyen. With soprano Christiane Karg, Thomas Quasthoff performed a very special evening dedicated to the work of French poet and novelist Louise de Vilmorin, at the Festival in Schwetzingen, at the Philharmonie in Essen, at the Elbphilharmonie in Hamburg and in Detmold.
Quasthoff has proved more than once during recent years that he enjoys rising to new challenges, and thus he made his conducting debut with Bach´s St. Matthew-Passion at the Verbier Festival in 2015.
During the past years, he started again doing Jazz-concerts on tour together with some internationally renowned instrumentalists: Frank Chastenier (piano), Dieter Ilg (double bass) and Wolfgang Haffner (drums). They were highly acclaimed in Zurich, Vienna, Essen, Budapest, Düsseldorf, Hamburg, Cologne, at the Festspielhaus Baden-Baden, St. Petersburg, Novosibirsk, Hildesheim, Madrid, Graz, Bielefeld and at the Jazz Fest Wien.
Highlights of the season 2018/2019 were concerts at the Elbphilharmonie Hamburg as part of the Schleswig-Holstein Music Festival as well as in Munich, Dresden, Vienna Konzerthaus, at the Festivals in Leverkusen, Heidelberg, Bonn, and the Baltic Sea Festival, as well as at the Berlin State Opera. Another highlight was a small tour to Asia with concerts at the Hong Kong Festival, in Seoul and Daejeon. The 2019-2020 will see him doing Jazz-Concerts for his 60th birthday at Schloss Elmau, at the Festspielhaus Baden-Baden and at the Konzerthaus in Vienna with his band and special guests Nils Landgren (trombone) and Bill Evans (saxophone). Further concert highlights will be at the Philharmonie in Cologne, Graz, Stuttgart, Rottweil, Bielefeld, Weimar and at the Rheingau Festival.
Thomas Quasthoff was a professor at the Hochschule für Musik in Detmold from 1996–2004, and has taught at the Hanns Eisler School of Music in Berlin ever since, where he dedicates himself passionately to the upcoming generation of singers. This devotion inspired him to launch the “Das Lied” international song competition, which will take place next in February 2019. Master classes brought him to the festivals in Salzburg and Heidelberger Frühling, to the Schubertiade in Schwarzenberg, to the Verbier Festival as well as to the Aldeburgh Festival.
Thomas Quasthoff began his vocal studies with Professor Charlotte Lehmann and Professor Ernst Huber-Contwig in Hannover, Germany. His national and international music awards include, alongside many others, first prize in the ARD International Music Competition Munich (1988), the Shostakovich in Moscow (1996), and the Hamada Trust/Scotsman Festival Prize (Edinburgh International Festival 1996). He received the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany from the President of Germany in 2005, the European Culture Prize for Music at the Dresden Frauenkirche, the Gold Medal of the Royal Philharmonic Society in London, the Herbert von Karajan Music Prize of the Festspielhaus Baden-Baden in 2009, and the Gold Medal of London’s Wigmore Hall in 2011. In addition, he was conferred the title of Österreichischer Kammersänger in 2009.
Starting in 1999, Thomas Quasthoff had an exclusive recording contract with the Deutsche Grammophon Gesellschaft (DGG). His CDs have been awarded many prizes and three of them have received a Grammy: Mahler’s LIEDER AUS DES KNABEN WUNDERHORN (together with Anne Sofie von Otter) under Claudio Abbado, orchestrated Schubert Lieder (with the Chamber Orchestra of Europe, also under Claudio Abbado), and in spring 2006 for his Bach CANTATAS together with the Berlin Baroque Soloists. Six of his recordings have been honored with an Echo Award. The most recent jazz album "Nice ´n´ Easy" has been released in May 2018 by Sony Music. It contains a diverse programme of jazz classics with the celebrated NDR Bigband – The Hamburg Radio Jazz Orchestra and his trio partners Frank Chastenier, Dieter Ilg and Wolfgang Haffner.
2019-2020
This biography is to be reproduced without any changes, omissions or additions, unless expressly authorized by artist management.
DISCOGRAPHY
Thomas Quasthoff: Nice ‘n’ Easy
Vocals: Thomas Quasthoff | Piano: Frank Chastenier | Bass: Dieter Ilg | Drums: Wolfgang Haffner
NDR Bigband
Arrangement: Jörg Achim Keller
Label: Sony Music | 2018
Thomas Quasthoff: Tell it like it is
Vocals: Thomas Quasthoff | Klavier: Frank Chastenier | Gitarre: Bruno Müller | Bass: Dieter Ilg | Drums: Wolfgang Haffner
Label: Deutsche Grammophon | 2010
Thomas Quasthoff: The Jazz Album – Watch what happens
Arrangement: Alan Broadbent, Nan Schwartz
Label: Deutsche Grammophon | 2007
Thomas Quasthoff: Mein Weihnachten
Vocals: Thomas Quasthoff | Piano: Frank Chastenier | guitar: Bruno Müller | Bass: Dieter Ilg | Drums: Wolfgang Haffner
Label: Deutsche Grammophon | 2014
VIDEOS
CALENDAR
ill Evans & The Spykillers! feat. Wolfgang Haffner with special guest Thomas Quasthoff
Bill Evans, sax
Wolfgang Haffner, drums
Simon Oslender, keys
Claus Fischer, bass
Thomas Quasthoff, vocals
Thomas Quasthoff Trio | "Meeting Friends"
Thomas Quasthoff, vocals
Wolfgang Meyer, guitar
Shawn Grocott, trombone
He was one of the world-renowned opera and lied singers from Germany, before ending his unprecedented career in 2012 after three Grammys and seven ECHOs. Thomas Quasthoff says that at that time his soul no longer wanted to sing. He, the classical music star, reinvented himself: Friends introduced him to jazz, which he had always loved. The microphone became his instrument.
Stars like Dieter Ilg, Wolfgang Haffner, Nils Landgren and Bill Evans became his jazz friends. Then he met "Shawn & The Wolf" in Verbier in the shadow of the Matterhorn in 2019, and a new friendship was formed: Singer Quasthoff, trombonist Shawn Grocott and guitarist Wolfgang Meyer are an unusual band that has to constantly reinvent their jazz arrangements. And being able to accompany them on this varied and entertaining search promises a special and unforgettable evening - among friends.
Wolfgang Haffner & friends
Wolfgang Haffner, drums
Nils Landgren, trombone
Thomas Quasthoff, vocals
Simon Oslender, keys
Thomas Stieger, bass
With Wolfgang Haffner, Nils Landgren and Thomas Quasthoff, three superstars of jazz music are coming to the Luisenburg for the first time in summer - a concert the Luisenburg has never experienced before and a sign that world class is at home in the Fichtelgebirge.
FURTHER INFORMATION & TICKETSThomas Quasthoff Quartett | "FOR YOU!"
Thomas Quasthoff, vocals
Simon Oslender, keys
Dieter Ilg, double bass
Wolfgang Haffner, drums
When Thomas Quasthoff performs his new programme FOR YOU, he is one thing above all else – absolutely authentic. Quasthoff has an unerring instinct for the appropriate style of whatever he is singing. This applies to opera arias, art and folk songs just as much as jazz, pop and soul. How the bass-baritone lives up to his goal of truly touching people with his voice is evidenced by audience reactions and accolades from the press, documenting the fascination and enthusiasm this exceptional voice continues to arouse in his listeners. Now he would like to give something back to the audience which has kept its faith in him all these years – hence FOR YOU!
He is joined by three excellent jazz musicians: Dieter Ilg is the doyen of German jazz bass players. Wolfgang Haffner is Germany’s best-known drummer – looking back upon an unparalleled career which extends far beyond jazz. Simon Oslender is the youngest member of the band – having made his debut on the scene as a “child prodigy on the Hammond organ”, the 24-year-old Simon Oslender is considered one of the rising stars of the German music scene on piano, organ and keyboards.
Thomas Quasthoff Trio | "Meeting Friends"!
Thomas Quasthoff, vocals
Shawn Grocott, trombone
Wolfgang Meyer, guitar
When Thomas Quasthoff met "Shawn & The Wolf" in Verbier in the shadow of the Matterhorn in 2019, it was friendship at first sight: Singer Quasthoff, trombonist Shawn Grocott and guitarist Wolfgang Meyer are an unusual band that has to constantly reinvent their jazz arrangements. And being able to accompany them on this varied and entertaining search promises a special and unforgettable evening - among friends.
FURTHER INFORMATION & TICKETSCONTACT
Representation: World
- Helga Machreich-Unterzaucher
- +43 (0)5 06 80-012
- machreich@machreich-artists.com
