Thomas Quasthoff

German bass-baritone Thomas Quasthoff is recognized as one of the most remarkable singers performing today. Since making his US debut at the Oregon Bach Festival with Helmuth Rilling, he has sung with the New York Philharmonic, Boston Symphony Orchestra, Chicago Symphony, Cleveland Orchestra, San Francisco Symphony, Los Angeles Philharmonic, and the Pittsburgh Symphony under the batons of Barenboim, Colin Davis, Eschenbach, Jansons, Masur, Maazel, Muti, Ozawa, and Welser-Möst. In recital, he has performed at Carnegie Hall, Lincoln Center, and the Kennedy Center, and on the major recital series in San Francisco, Chicago, Los Angeles, Boston, Toronto, and Atlanta, and made appearances at the Ravinia, Tanglewood, and Mostly Mozart festivals, and the Hollywood Bowl.

In Europe, Mr. Quasthoff regularly appears with the most distinguished orchestras under such eminent conductors as Rattle, Abbado, Haitink, and Barenboim. Much in demand as a recitalist, he frequently sings in the major recital halls in Berlin, Vienna, Salzburg, Paris, Amsterdam, and London.

A frequent guest at Carnegie Hall, Mr. Quasthoff opened the 2001–02 concert season with the Berliner Philharmoniker led by Claudio Abbado. During the 2006–07 season, he was one of Carnegie Hall’s Perspectives artists. Mr. Quasthoff returns to Carnegie Hall later this season to appear with the Boston Symphony, and in recital with Ian Bostridge and Dorothea Röschmann.

In April 2003, Mr. Quasthoff made his first staged opera appearance as Don Fernando in Fidelio with Sir Simon Rattle conducting the Berliner Philharmoniker in Salzburg. Since then, he has sung the role of Amfortas in a highly acclaimed production of Wagner’s Parsifal at the Vienna State Opera with both Donald Runnicles and Sir Simon Rattle conducting.

Mr. Quasthoff’s discography includes recordings for BMG, Haenssler, EMI-Electrola, Philips, and the Bayer labels. An exclusive Deutsche Grammophon recording artist since 1999, Mr. Quasthoff recently recorded German Romantic arias with the orchestra of the Deutsche Oper Berlin and Christian Thielemann as well as Mahler’s Songs of a Wayfarer with Pierre Boulez and the Vienna Philharmonic. His first recording for DG, Mahler’s Des Knaben Wunderhorn with Anne Sofie von Otter and the Berliner Philharmoniker conducted by Claudio Abbado, received the 1999 Grammy Award for best vocal performance. In February 2004, Mr. Quasthoff won a second Grammy for his recording of the orchestrated songs of Schubert with the Chamber Orchestra of Europe and Claudio Abbado, and a third Grammy was awarded to him in February 2006 for his recording of Bach cantatas with the Berliner Barock Solisten. Mr. Quasthoff’s most recent releases are an album of sacred arias by Bach, Handel, Haydn, and Mendelssohn, and Watch What Happens: The Jazz Album.

The subject of numerous articles in the national press including Time, People, and Esquire magazines, Mr. Quasthoff has been profiled on the CBS news programs 60 Minutes and 60 Minutes Two as well as on the NBC Nightly News with Tom Brokaw. Mr. Quasthoff’s biography was recently published in Europe, and a translated version will be available in the US this year.