German baritone STEPHAN GENZ was born in Erfurt and received his first musical training as a chorister
of St. Thomas’ in Leipzig. Following vocal studies with Hans-Joachim Beyer at the conservatory of Leipzig, he worked
with Mitsuko Shirai and Hartmut Höll at the conservatory of Karlsruhe as well as with Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau and Elisabeth
Schwarzkopf. International attention came with awards at such prestigious competitions as the International Johannes Brahms
Competition in Hamburg and International Hugo Wolf Competition in Stuttgart.
Though he enjoys the greatest international renown
for his lieder interpretations, opera has figured more and more prominently in his career. Of special note
are recent triumphs in the title role of Mozart's Don Giovanni (France, Spain, Belgium), Guglielmo in Mozart's Cosi
fan tutte and Papageno in Die Zauberfloete (Grand Theatre de Geneve), Papageno (Cologne), Harlekin in Strauss'
Ariadne auf Naxos at the Opera de Monte Carlo and Papageno at Parma's Teatro Regio. He has also performed
in Korngold's Die Tote Stadt with Eliahu Inbal conducting at Venice's famed Teatro La Fenice.
Mr. Genz has also sung principal roles at the Berlin and Hamburg Staatsopers, Paris’
Opéra de la Bastille, Théâtre des Champs-Elysées and Théâtre Châtelet, Milan’s
Teatro alla Scala, the Opéras of Lausanne and Strasbourg, Semperoper Dresden and Aix-en-Provence Festival, collaborating
with such conductors as Myung-Whun Chung, Marcus Creed, Helmuth Rilling, Gerd Albrecht, Daniel Harding, Enoch zu Guttenberg,
Philippe Herreweghe, Thomas Hengelbrock, Gustav Kuhn, Sigiswald Kuijken, Jesus Lopez-Cobos, Fabio Luisi, Georges Prêtre,
Rene Jacobs, Giuseppe Sinopoli, Kurt Masur and Nikolaus Harnoncourt. In addition he has given concerts in America, South America,
Canada, and throughout Europe, his repertoire including the Brahms and Fauré Requiems (both of which he has
recorded), Mahler’s Lieder eines fahrenden Gesellen and nearly all concert literature for lyric baritone. He
enjoyed particular success performing the Britten War Requiem with James Judd and the Orchestra National de Lille
in Paris.
As a recitalist, Mr. Genz has been welcomed at London’s Wigmore Hall, the Amsterdam Concertgebouw, Brussels'
Theatre de la Monnaie, Florence's Maggio Musicale, the Karlsruhe Haendel Festival, Bergen International Festival; New York’s
Frick Collection and Alice Tully Hall, as well as on the major art-song series of Philadelphia, Berkeley, Ann Arbor, Washington,
D.C., Cleveland, Montreal, Cologne,Paris, Florence, Aix-en-Provence, Tokyo and Feldkirch. His lieder recordings have
earned some of the industry’s highest honors, including the Timbre de Platine, Diapason d`Or, and
for his recording of Beethoven Lieder on Hyperion the Gramophone Award and Preis der Deutschen Schallplattenkritik.
In 1999 he was bestowed the Brahms Prize in Schleswig-Holstein and in 2000 was named “Young Artist of the Year”
by Belgium’s music critics.
