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
It's Christmas! (Extended Edition)
Artists Jonas KaufmannRelease Date: 10/29/2021
In 2020, Jonas Kaufmann’s recording of It’s Christmas! was an outstanding success that captured the spirit of the holiday season. Now the album has been extended to include seven newly recorded songs and will be re-released on October 29 on Sony Classical ahead of Kaufmann’s highly anticipated concert tour this winter.
“The wonderful success of my first Christmas album, and the pleasure that it gave not just me personally but others, too, has lured me into returning to the studio this year to pay tribute to another holiday musical genre – intimate Alpine Stubnmusi – that for someone like myself, who grew up in Bavaria and Tyrol, invariably evokes the holiday spirit,” said Jonas Kaufmann.
New tracks on in this year’s release are Der englische Gruß, Auf, ihr Hirtensleut, Als Maria übers Gebirge ging, Zu Bethlehem geboren, Jetzt fangen wir zum Singen an and Mariä Wiegenlied. These six short gems are accompanied by Kaufmann’s Chiemgau colleague Stefanie Irányi in “original Stubnmusi scoring” for dulcimer, harp, violin, clarinet and double bass. Yet another new track is the French Trois anges sont venus ce soir with a string ensemble. This song was brought to Kaufmann’s attention by his friend and fellow opera singer, Ludovic Tézier. The instrumentalists for the album were carefully selected based on their suitability, and include Mozarteumorchester Salzburg, the Bachchor Salzburg and the St. Florianer Sängerknaben, all conducted by Jochen Reider, as well as harpist Florian Pedarnig and the Cologne Studio Big Band, conducted by Wieland Reissmann. Star trumpeter Till Brönner makes cameo appearances on Let It Snow! and Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas.
The new It’s Christmas! (Extended Edition) album is due for release on October 29th as a limited 2-CD deluxe edition with comprehensive booklet, as a 2-CD set, as a limited edition, 2-LP vinyl and as a digital album.