Markus Schäfer (born 13 June 1961) is a German

lyric tenor A tenor is a type of classical male singing voice whose vocal range lies between the countertenor and baritone voice types. It is the highest male chest voice type. The tenor's vocal range extends up to C5. The low extreme for tenors is widel ...

, a soloist in opera, oratorio, and '' Lied''. He has performed with major opera houses and with the ensemble

La Petite Bande La Petite Bande is a Belgium-based ensemble specialising in music of the Baroque and Classical eras played on period instruments. They are particularly known for their recordings of works by Corelli, Rameau, Handel, Bach, Haydn, and Mozart. His ...

. He has been a professor of voice at the Musikhochschule Hannover.

Career

Born in

Andernach Andernach () is a town in the district of Mayen-Koblenz, in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany, of about 30,000 inhabitants. It is situated towards the end of the '' Neuwied basin'' on the left bank of the Rhine between the former tiny fishing villa ...

, Schäfer grew up in

Bad Ems Bad Ems () is a town in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. It is the administrative seat of the Rhein-Lahn rural district and is well known as a spa on the river Lahn. Bad Ems is the seat of the ''Verbandsgemeinde'' (administrative community) Ba ...

where his father was church musician. Schäfer studied singing with Armand McLane. He studied sacred music in Düsseldorf and Karlsruhe. He made his operatic debut with the Zurich ''Opernstudio'' and later joined the ensemble of the Zurich Opera, then the ''

Hamburgische Staatsoper The Hamburg State Opera (in German: Staatsoper Hamburg) is a German opera company based in Hamburg. Its theatre is near the square of Gänsemarkt. Since 2015, the current ''Intendant'' of the company is Georges Delnon, and the current ''Genera ...

'' and until 1993 the ''

Deutsche Oper am Rhein The Deutsche Oper am Rhein (German Opera on the Rhine) is an opera company based in Düsseldorf and Duisburg. The opera also has an associated classical ballet company. Axel Kober has been its Music Director since 2009. The resident orchestra, t ...

''. As a freelance singer, he performed Lied and concerts, including at major festivals. He has been a professor of voice at the Musikhochschule Hannover since 2008. Schäfer has performed with the ensemble

, conducted by

Sigiswald Kuijken Sigiswald Kuijken (; born 16 February 1944) is a Belgian violinist, violist, and conductor known for playing on period and original instruments. Biography Kuijken was born in Dilbeek, near Brussels. He was a member of the Alarius Ensemble ...

, in concerts and recordings of

Bach cantata The cantatas composed by Johann Sebastian Bach, known as Bach cantatas (German: ), are a body of work consisting of over 200 surviving independent works, and at least several dozen that are considered lost. As far as known, Bach's earliest cant ...

s and in works by Mozart, as Ferrando in '' Così fan tutte'', Ottavio in '' Don Giovanni'' and taking the tenor part of the Requiem. He is a regular soloist with the boys' choir Windsbacher Knabenchor, beginning in 1989 with the tenor part in Mozart's Requiem for the funeral of the assassinated Alfred Herrhausen. He is lead tenor in the ensemble ''Liedertafel'' of four male singers and pianist

Gerold Huber Gerold Huber (born 1969) is a German classical pianist, best known as the regular duo partner of baritone Christian Gerhaher and accompanist of other singers. Career Born in Straubing, Huber studied on a scholarship at the , piano with Fried ...

. His recording of Bach's '' St Matthew Passion'' with Nikolaus Harnoncourt won a

Grammy Award The Grammy Awards (stylized as GRAMMY), or simply known as the Grammys, are awards presented by the Recording Academy of the United States to recognize "outstanding" achievements in the music industry. They are regarded by many as the most pr ...

. In 2014, Schäfer appeared in a performance of

Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach (8 March 1714 – 14 December 1788), also formerly spelled Karl Philipp Emmanuel Bach, and commonly abbreviated C. P. E. Bach, was a German Classical period musician and composer, the fifth child and sec ...

's oratorio ''Die Auferstehung und Himmelfahrt Jesu'', celebrating the composer's birth in 1714 as "C.P.E. Bach: 300th Birthday".

Hermann Max Hermann Max (born 1941 in Goslar) is a German choral conductor. In 1977, he founded the Jugendkantorei Dormagen, which in 1985 became the basis of the Rheinische Kantorei and Das Kleine Konzert. In 1992 he founded the Knechtsteden Early Music Fes ...

conducted the

Rheinische Kantorei The Rheinische Kantorei is a German vocal ensemble of baroque music accompanied by an instrumental ensemble called Das Kleine Konzert. History The Rheinische Kantorei and Das Kleine Konzert were founded in 1977 by the German conductor Hermann M ...

and the Kleine Konzert, with soloists

Veronika Winter Veronika Winter (born February 2, 1965 in Limburg an der Lahn) is a German soprano. She is particularly noted for her recordings of Baroque music Baroque music ( or ) refers to the period or dominant style of Western classical music composed ...

(soprano), Matthias Vieweg (bass) and Hannes Rux (trumpet), at

Eberbach Abbey Eberbach Abbey (German: Kloster Eberbach) is a former Cistercian monastery in Eltville in the Rheingau, Germany. On account of its Romanesque and early Gothic buildings it is considered one of the most significant architectural heritage sites i ...

, as part of the

Rheingau Musik Festival The (RMF) is an international summer music festival in Germany, founded in 1987. It is mostly for classical music, but includes other genres. Concerts take place at culturally important locations, such as Eberbach Abbey and Schloss Johannisberg, ...

. A review noted his pleasantly lyrical

timbre In music, timbre ( ), also known as tone color or tone quality (from psychoacoustics), is the perceived sound quality of a musical note, sound or tone. Timbre distinguishes different types of sound production, such as choir voices and musica ...

and precise coloraturas. He recorded in 2017, with the pianist

Siegfried Mauser Siegfried Mauser (born 3 November 1954) is a German pianist, academic and music manager. In 2016, 2017, and 2018, German courts convicted him as a multiple sex offender.Ralf Wiegand/Susi Wimmer, ''Professor Unrat.'' In: ''Süddeutsche Zeitung'', n ...

, three song cycles by Wilhelm Killmayer, one based on late poems by Friedrich Hölderlin, two on poems by Georg Trakl.

Selected recordings

* Secular Bach cantatas, ''Angenehmes Wiederau'', BWV 30a and ''Vereinigte Zwietracht der wechselnden Saiten'', BWV 207, conducted by Gustav Leonhardt * As Midas in ''Der Streit zwischen Phoebus und Pan'', conducted by Hans-Jörg Albrecht * Mozart:

Zaide ''Zaide'' (originally, ''Das Serail'') is an unfinished German-language opera, K. 344, written by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart in 1780. Emperor Joseph II, in 1778, was in the process of setting up an opera company for the purpose of performing ...

, conducted by

Martin Haselböck Martin Haselböck (born 23 November 1954, Vienna, Austria) is the Austrian musical director of Musica Angelica in Long Beach, California, United States, and the musical director and founder of the Orchester Wiener Akademie. He is also a professor ...

* Beethoven: Symphonies, conducted by

Jos Van Immerseel Jos Van Immerseel (born 9 November 1945) is a Belgian harpsichordist, pianist and conductor. Van Immerseel studied organ, piano and harpsichord at the Antwerp Conservatory under Flor Peeters, Eugène Traey and harpsichordist and musicolo ...

References

External links

*
Markus Schäfer

Naxos Naxos (; el, Νάξος, ) is a Greek island and the largest of the Cyclades. It was the centre of archaic Cycladic culture. The island is famous as a source of emery, a rock rich in corundum, which until modern times was one of the best ab ...

Discography

Münchener Bach-Chor Münchener Bach-Chor is a mixed choir for concert and oratorio in Munich. Performances, international tours and recordings with Karl Richter and the Münchener Bach-Orchester made the choir internationally known. History Heinrich-Schütz-Krei ...

Markus Schäfer
arien-artists.com

Konzertbüro Andreas Braun, management {{DEFAULTSORT:Schafer, Markus 1961 births Living people German operatic tenors German performers of early music