Jonas Kaufman Makes Carnegie Hall Recital Debut Tonight

World renowned tenor Jonas Kaufmann makes his Carnegie Hall recital debut tonight, February 20 at 8:00 p.m. in Stern Auditorium / Perelman Stage with pianist Helmut Deutsch. The German tenor sings selections from Schumann's Zwölf Gedichte as well as his Dichterliebe. Also on the program is Wagner's Wesendonck Lieder, Op. 91; and Liszt's Tre sonetti di Petrarca.

Since his sensational debut at New York City's Metropolitan Opera in a performance of Verdi's La Traviata in 2006, Jonas Kaufmann has numbered among the top stars in the operatic world. Hailing from Munich, Germany, he completed his vocal studies at the local Music Academy. After engagements in Stuttgart, Frankfurt, Hamburg and Milan-in Giorgio Strehler's production of Mozart's Così fan tutte and Beethoven's Fidelio conducted by Riccardo Muti, Mr. Kaufmann began performing at Zurich Opera in 2001. Mr. Kaufmann has performed at the Salzburg Festival, the Lyric Opera of Chicago, the Paris Opéra and the Royal Opera House Covent Garden in London, La Scala Milan, the Deutsche Oper and the State Opera in Berlin, the Vienna State Opera, and the Metropolitan in New York. In 2010, he made his debut at the Bayreuth Festival in the title role of Wagner's Lohengrin. Jonas Kaufmann is just as much in demand internationally in the Italian and French repertoires as he is in German opera, and has recently shown his versatility singing the operas of Wagner and Verdi. After performing the title role in the Metropolitan Opera's production of Wagner's Parsifal and the revival of Verdi's Don Carlo at the Royal Opera House in London, Mr. Kaufmann sings the title role in Don Carlo in Munich and Salzburg, as well as two new Verdi roles: Manrico in Il Trovatore and Alvaro in La Forza del Destino, both in new productions at the Bayerische Staatsoper.

Kaufmann's versatility is documented on a number of CDs and DVDs of such works as Lohengrin, Humperdinck's Königskinder, Puccini's Tosca, Cilea's Adriana Lecouvreur, Massenet's Werther, and Bizet's Carmen. His solo albums Verismo and Wagner were bestsellers within weeks of being released. In 2011, he was presented an Opera News Award. Shortly afterwards, Mr. Kaufmann was named a Chevalier de l'Orde de l'Art et des Lettres by French culture minister Frédéric Mitterrand and has been selected several times as Singer of the Year, by the classical music magazines Opernwelt, Diapason, and Musical America, as well as by the juries of Echo-Klassik and the inaugural International Opera Awards (London 2013).

Jonas Kaufmann is also a familiar figure world-wide on the concert and recital platforms. His partnership with pianist Helmut Deutsch, with whom he worked since his student days in Munich, has proven itself in countless concerts including one on October 30 2011, on the stage of the Metropolitan Opera in New York-the first solo recital given at the MET since since Luciano Pavarotti's 1994 performance.

Helmut Deutsch is one of the most sought-after pianists for chamber music and vocal accompaniment. He studied piano, composition, and musicology at the Vienna Music Academy, where he was awarded the Vienna Composition Prize. His collaborators have included Irmgard Seefried, Rita Streich, Ileana Cotrubas, Hermann Prey, Hans Hotter, Olaf Bär, Anne Sofie von Otter, Josef Protschka, Peter Schreier, Bernd Weikl, Brigitte Fassbaender, Keith Lewis, Boje Skovhus, Barbara Bonney, and Jonas Kaufmann. He has made numerous recordings, including the complete vocal works of Johannes Brahms. As an educator, he has taught students at the Vienna Music Academy, as well as in master classes in Europe and Japan. Mr. Deutsch is a professor at the Hochschule für Musik in Munich.

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