Thomas Quasthoff

Thomas Quasthoff began taking singing lessons with Professor Charlotte Lehmann at the age of sixteen, and later studied with Professor Ernst Huber-Contwig in Hanover. These days he performs with the world's leading orchestras, under the direction of famous conductors such as Claudio Abbado, Daniel Barenboim, Sir Colin Davis, Bernard Haitink, Mariss Jansons, Kurt Masur, Seiji Ozawa, Sir Simon Rattle, Helmuth Rilling, Christian Thielemann, and Franz Welser-Möst. In Europe Thomas Quasthoff has appeared with the Berlin and Vienna Philharmonics, the Saxon State Orchestra (Dresden), the London Philharmonic Orchestra, the London Symphony Orchestra, the Freiburger Barockorchester (Freiburg Baroque Orchestra), and the Chamber Orchestra of Europe. He is a regular performer in all the great concert halls – Vienna, Berlin, Amsterdam, Munich, London, Paris, Rome, Madrid, St. Petersburg, Tokyo – and at the festivals in Salzburg, Edinburgh and Schleswig-Holstein. He has also performed at the Berlin Festival Weeks and the Schubertiade in Schwarzenberg. Thomas Quasthoff's debut at the Oregon Bach Festival in 1995 laid the foundation for his rapid rise to fame in the USA. In October 2001, he opened the season at Carnegie Hall as soloist with the Berlin Philharmonic under the direction of Claudio Abbado. Thomas Quasthoff's first CD for Deutsche Grammophon featured Mahler's Wunderhorn lieder. This recording, a performance with Anne Sofie von Otter under the direction of Claudio Abbado, received a Grammy. Quasthoff's recording of Mozart arias with the Württembergisches Kammerorchester (Württemberg Chamber Orchestra) for BMG was awarded both a Diapason d'Or and the 1998 Echo Prize. One of his first major appearances was with the Windsbacher Knabenchor for the ARD television broadcast of Bach's Weihnachtsoratorium (Christmas Oratorio) in 1991, released on CD by Teldec.