Jonas Kaufmann
Biography
Jonas Kaufmann is now the world’s most successful tenor. He is internationally acclaimed for his roles in Italian, German and French repertoire and he appears at all the leading international opera houses, including the Metropolitan Opera in New York, La Scala in Milan, the Vienna State Opera, the Paris Opéra and London’s Covent Garden. He also performs regularly at the Salzburg Festival and reaches an audience of millions through his regular cinema and television broadcasts. Last year he was watched by millions worldwide when making his celebrated debut singing at the Last Night of the Proms from London’s Royal Albert Hall and in a special international cinema-cast of his La Scala concert “An Evening with Puccini”. As well as in opera, Jonas Kaufmann also enthralls audiences and critics alike as a lieder recitalist with his accompanist Helmut Deutsch and recently enjoyed great success with his sold-out European concert tours of Puccini arias & Du bist die Welt für mich. Jonas Kaufmann has received numerous awards, most recently the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany (Bundesverdienstkreuz), an Opera News Award in New York, and the International Opera Award in London, and was appointed a Chevalier de l’Ordre des Arts et des Lettres in France. Specialist journals such as Opernwelt, Diapason and Musical America, together with the jury of the ECHO Klassik Awards, have all voted him Singer of the Year. In 2015 his album Nessun dorma – The Puccini Album obtained his best ever general-album chart success in many countries including in Germany, UK, France & Spain. In 2014 he received the German Bambi Award for his album, Du bist die Welt für mich. Both this album and his Verdi Album from 2013 had outstanding success in the German and Austrian general-album charts and were bestsellers in the classical charts – both reaching gold status in Austria. His recording of Schubert’s Winterreise succeeded as the first Lieder album ever to enter the German and Austrian general-album charts.
Current album
An Italian Night Live From The Waldbühne Berlin
Artists Jonas KaufmannRelease Date: 09/14/2018
Two years after the release of his highly successful album Dolce Vita, Jonas Kaufmann reaffirmed his love affair with Italian music this summer with a special concert at the Waldbühne – Berlin’s renowned stage-beneath-the-stars. In what can be seen as a wondrous zenith of his dedication to Italy and her music, the concert has become one of this year’s biggest classical music events. Sony Classical is proud to announce the release of the magical concert on DVD, Blu-ray, CD and digital formats this Fall.
“An Italian Night – Live from the Waldbühne Berlin” features popular songs and canzone as well as passionate Italian opera arias and duets from Cavalleria rusticana, where Georgian mezzo-soprano Anita Rachvelishvili joined Jonas as a charming guest-artist and duet partner. Both were supported by Jochen Rieder conducting the Rundfunk-Sinfonieorchester Berlin.
Those who missed the amazing atmosphere of the concert at the 20,000-seater Waldbühne can now experience the attractive mix of opera, songs and italianità that brought the audience to their feet and resulted in seven incredible encores including “Parla più piano” (The Godfather theme), “Volare” in special duet form and the mighty “Nessun dorma” from Puccini’s opera Turandot. The evening’s delights also included Ponchielli’s “Cielo e mar” from his opera La Gioconda, as well as the popular songs “Torna a Surriento”, “Non ti scordar di me”, a unique solo rendition of Lucio Dalla’s “Caruso” by Anita Rachvelishvili, and a stirring duet of “Il canto” between Jonas and Anita.
A 80-minute highlights version of the concert will be available on CD and digital audio formats (out September 14) and the full 110-minute concert recording – filmed by ZDF & 3sat in collaboration with concert promoter Alegria and Semmel Concerts – will be presented on DVD and Blu-ray (out September 28).
The full concert film (Jonas Kaufmann – Under the Stars) will also be shown in cinemas worldwide this Fall, including in Finland, Sweden, the Netherlands, Romania, Latvia, Denmark, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Poland, Spain and France.
