Christoph Prégardien New chamber version of Winterreise: “This is one of those discs that stops you in your tracks right away, and won't let you get back to your life until well after silence returns.  Veteran German lyric tenor Christoph Pregardien captures every nuance both in text and music.  FOUR STARS ****." The Toronto Star, June 5, 2008  Bach's St. John Passion with Collegium Vocale Gent at Lincoln Center: “Singing the crucial part of the Evangelist was Christoph Pregardien.  That this distinguished German tenor began his musical life as a choirboy seems crucial to his mature artistry.  Though his singing was elegant, clarion and worldly wise, there was still an affecting element of choirboy purity in his voice.  During the Evangelist's long stretches of narrative recitative, Mr. Herreweghe put his hands at his side and simply listened, seemingly captivated along with the rest of us.“ The New York Times, April 10, 2007 Bach Cantatas with Les Violons du Roy: “But it is the tenor Christoph Pregardien who, in my opinion, really succeeds in finding exactly the right tone, the most simple and natural manner of delivering the text.  In so doing, he establishes a direct connection with the audience.  The incomparable quality of his diction, supple and light, is without a doubt extraordinary.“ Le Soleil, December 20, 2005  Born in Limburg, Germany, CHRISTOPH PRÉGARDIEN began his musical education as a choirboy. He then studied singing with Martin Gründler and Karlheinz Jarius in Frankfurt, Carla Castellani in Milan, Alois Treml in Stuttgart and attended Hartmut Höll's lieder class. Widely regarded as among the foremost lyric tenors, Christoph Prégardien frequently collaborates with conductors such as Barenboim, Chailly, Gardiner, Harnoncourt, Herreweghe, Luisi, Metzmacher, Nagano, Sawallisch and Thielemann. His repertory spans a wide range from the great Baroque, Classical and Romantic Oratorios to 20th-century works by Britten, Killmayer, Rihm, Stravinsky. Recognized as an eminent recitalist, Christoph Prégardien is regularly welcomed at the major recitals venues of Paris, London, Brussels, Berlin, Cologne, Amsterdam, Salzburg, Zurich, Vienna, Barcelona and Geneva, as well as during his concert tours throughout Italy, Japan and North America. A longstanding collaboration unites him with his favorite piano partners Michael Gees and Andreas Staier.   He and Mr. Gees return to North America in May 2009 for recitals in New York and Philadelphia. Soloist of choice for renowned orchestras, he performed with the Berlin and Vienna Philharmonic, Bavarian Radio Symphony, Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra Amsterdam, Gewandhausorchester Leipzig, London Philharmonia, Staatskapelle Dresden, Philharmonie de Radio France and the Boston, Montreal and St. Louis Symphony Orchestras. An important part of his repertory has been recorded by major labels such as BMG, EMI, Deutsche Grammophon, Philips, Sony, Erato and Teldec. He is represented on more than a hundred and twenty titles, including nearly all of his active repertoire. His recordings of German Romantic Lied repertory have been highly acclaimed by the public and press and have received international awards including the prestigious Orphée d’Or of the Académie du Disque Lyrique-Prix Georg Solti, Preis der Deutschen Schallplattenkritik, Edison Award, Cannes Classical Award, and Diapason d’Or.   His newest recordings include (with pianist Michael Gees) works by Robert Schumann, Hugo Wolf and Gustav Mahler, as well as Schubert's Die Schoene Muellerin  (Hänssler-Classics).   He also recorded a new chamber version of Schubert's Winterreise with Pentaedre. As an opera singer, Christoph Prégardien has made stage appearences in major European houses, performing leading roles as Tamino (Zauberflöte), Don Ottavio (Don Giovanni), Almaviva (Il Barbiere di Siviglia), Fenton (Falstaff) and Monteverdi's Ulisse.  In May/June 2005, the tenor sang the title role of Mozart’s La Clemenza di Tito at the Paris National Opera conducted by Sylvain Cambreling, revived in September 2006 and subsequently issued on  DVD.   An important aspect in the musical life of Christoph Prégardien is his intensive and varied educational work. From 2000 to 2005 he was in charge of a vocal class at the Hochschule für Musik und Theater in Zurich.Since the autumn of 2004, he is a professor at the Musikhochschule Köln. In a new combination of DVD and book, released in the series “Schott Master Class”, he presents for the first time questions of singing technique and interpretation in words and pictures. Film examples accompany him in his lessons with his master class students.   Home