Precise vocal control, clear diction, intelligent musicality and an ability to get to the heart of
everything he sings ensures Christoph Prégardien’s place among the world’s foremost lyric
tenors. Especially revered as a Lieder singer, he can be heard this season at the Phiharmonie
de Paris, the Palace of Arts Budapest, and the Wigmore Hall in London, as well as in Zurich,
Lucerne, Kyoto, Tokyo and Bogotá. He will also perform at the Oxford Lieder Festival, the
Chopin Festival in Warsaw, the Schubertiade Schwarzenberg Hohenems, as well as part of
the “Schubert!” concert series with the Frankfurt Radio Symphony Orchestra.
Christoph Prégardien appears regularly with renowned orchestras the world over. He has
worked with the Berlin and Vienna Philharmonics, the Amsterdam Concertgebouw
Orchestra, the Philharmonia Orchestra, the Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France, as
well as the Boston and San Francisco Symphonies, and with conductors such as Barenboim,
Metzmacher and Thielemann. His wide orchestral repertoire includes the great baroque,
classical and romantic oratorios and passions, as well as works from the 17th and 20th
centuries. In opera, his roles have included Tamino (The Magic Flute), Almaviva (Rossini’s
Il Barbiere di Siviglia), Fenton (Verdi’s Falstaff), Don Ottavio (Don Giovanni) and the title
roles in Mozart’s La Clemenza di Tito and Idomeneo as well as Monteverdi’s Il Ritorno
d’Ulisse in Patria.
His long experience singing the Evangelist roles, and his close working relationship with
conductors such as Nagano, Chailly, Herreweghe, Harnoncourt, Luisi and Gardiner have
provided him with the perfect basis for his increasing work conducting the works of Bach.
Following the success of his conducting debut in 2012, leading Le Concert Lorrain and the
Nederlands Kammerkoor in Bach’s St. John’s Passion, he has also become in-demand as a
conductor this repertoire. In 2015 he led Le Concert Lorrain and the Balthasar-Neumann
Choir, this time in the St. Matthew’s Passion, and in the following years returned to lead Le
Concert Lorrain and the Dresdner Kammerchor on tour with Bach’s Christmas Oratorio. At a
celebration concert for Philippe Herreweghe’s 70th birthday he also led the Collegium
Vocale Gent. He will make his debut leading a symphony orchestra in spring 2019, when he
will lead the Duisburg Philharmonic in works including Mozart’s Requiem.
The singer has recorded much of his repertoire on a discography which numbers over 150
records, which have received awards such as the Orphée d’Or of the Académie du Disque
Lyrique, the Edison Award, the Cannes Classical Award and the Diapason d’Or. For the label
Challenge Classics he has recorded Schubert’s Schwanengesang with Andreas Staier and Die
schöne Müllerin with Michael Gees – selected as Editor’s Choice by Gramophone magazine
and awarded the MIDEM Record of the Year – followed by Hugo Wolf’s Italienisches
Liederbuch with Julia Kleiter, Between Life and Death, Wanderer and the Grammynominated
Winterreise disc – all with Michael Gees – as well as Father and Son with his son
Julian Prégardien. His Schubert CD Poetisches Tagebuch (with Julius Drake) was awarded
the German Critics’ Award 2016. His most recent CD releases include A Matter of Heart –
songs for voice, horn and piano with Olivier Darbellay and Michael Gees – as well as a
recording of passion cantatas by Telemann and Bach with the Vox Orchester for Sony, where
he appears as a baritone for the first time.
Teaching remains a very important part of Christoph Prégardien’s musical life, and in
addition to his concert engagements he gives masterclasses worldwide for young singers.
Following many years at the Hochschule für Musik und Theater in Zurich, he has been a
professor at the Academy of Music in Cologne since 2004.
“His lyric tenor voice had a youthful glow, yet he sang with plaintive beauty and piercing
insight.”
The New York Times