Since his sensational début at the Metropolitan Opera in New York in a performance of La traviata in 2006, Jonas Kaufmann has numbered among the top stars on the operatic horizon. The international press has singled him out as the »new king of tenors«. Insiders praise him as the most important German tenor since Fritz Wunderlich.

Jonas Kaufmann comes from Munich. He completed his vocal studies there at the local Music Academy, in addition to which he attended master classes with Hans Hotter, James King and Josef Metternich. During his first years on stage at the State Theatre in Saarbrücken he continued his training with Michael Rhodes in Trier.

After engagements in Stuttgart, Frankfurt, Hamburg and Milan – in Giorgio Strehler’s production of Così fan tutte and Fidelio with Riccardo Muti on the podium – Jonas Kaufmann moved on to the Zurich Opera in 2001. From there he began his international career. Appearances at the Salzburg Festival and the Lyric Opera of Chicago, the Paris Opéra and the Royal Opera House Covent Garden in London, La Scala in 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 début at the Bayreuth Festival as Lohengrin in a staging by Hans Neuenfels.

Jonas Kaufmann is just as much in demand internationally in the Italian and French repertoires as he is in German opera. He has sung Massenet’s Werther in Paris and Vienna, Cavaradossi in Puccini’s Tosca in London, at the Met and La Scala. His intensive characterizations of Don José in Bizet’s Carmen and Werther in Massenet’s opera took opera fans throughout the world by storm.

On his home turf in Munich, Jonas Kaufmann has thus far been heard as Tamino, Lohengrin, Don José, Cavaradossi, Florestan in Fidelio and Don Carlo. In 2012 he gave his début as Bacchus in Ariadne auf Naxos by Richard Strauss at the Salzburg Festival.

Recent highlights in Jonas Kaufmann’s career include his debut as Siegmund in Die Walküre at the Metropolitan Opera in 2011 in a new production under the baton of James Levine, Andrea Chenier in a new production at the Royal Opera House with Antonio Pappano conducting, his first Radames in Rome (in a concert performance with Pappano), a high acclaimed double début in the new production of Cavalleria rusticana / Pagliacci at the Salzburg Easter Festival, the title role in Werther in a new production at the Metropolitan Opera in 2014, and a Puccini recital at La Scala. After the success of his solo album with classics from the late Twenties and early Thirties (Du bist die Welt für mich) he presented his new album with Puccini arias (Nessun dorma) in September 2015. Some of those arias he has performed at the legendary “Last Night of the Proms” in the Royal Albert Hall London on September 12th.

Jonas Kaufmann’s versatility is documented on a number of CD’s and DVD’s in performances of such works as Lohengrin, Die Walküre, Parsifal, Ariadne auf Naxos, Don Carlo, Tosca, Adriana Lecouvreur, Werther and Carmen. His solo albums Verismo, Wagner and Verdi were bestsellers only a few weeks after being released. In 2011 he was presented the coveted »Opera News Award« in New York. Shortly afterwards Jonas Kaufmann was named a »Chevalier de l’Orde des Arts et des Lettres« by French culture minister Frédéric Mitterrand. He 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). He was also given the title »Kammersänger« by Bavarian state opera in 2013.

Jonas Kaufmann is highly sought-after as a recitalist as well. His partnership with pianist Hemut Deutsch, with whom he worked as far back as his student days in Munich, has proven itself in countless concerts including one on October 30th, 2011, on the stage of the Metropolitan Opera in New York. This was the first solo recital given at the Met since Luciano Pavarotti’s back in 1994.