Christian

Gerhaher

© Christopher Jonas

recent news

Biography

upcoming*


20. November 2024 - 19:00

Helsinki, Musiikkitalo

Gustav Mahler: Lieder eines fahrenden Gesellen
Hugo Wolf: Goethe-Lieder - Harfenspieler I-III

Info & Tickets



21. November 2024 - 19:00

Helsinki, Musiikkitalo

Gustav Mahler: Lieder eines fahrenden Gesellen
Hugo Wolf: Goethe-Lieder - Harfenspieler I-III

Info & Tickets



14. December 2024 - 19:30

Wien, Wiener Konzerthaus - Mozart-Saal

Schumann: Liederabend-Programm

Info & Tickets



16. December 2024 - 19:30

London, Wigmore Hall London

Schumann: Liederabend-Programm

Info & Tickets



19. December 2024

London, Wigmore Hall London

Schumann: Liederabend-Programm

Info & Tickets


During his studies under Paul Kuen and Raimund Grumbach, German baritone Christian Gerhaher attended the Opera School of the Academy of Music in Munich where he studied lied interpretation with Friedemann Berger. While completing his medical studies Christian Gerhaher perfected his vocal training in master-classes given by Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau, Elisabeth Schwarzkopf and Inge Borkh. At present Christian Gerhaher, together with Gerold Huber, holds a class in lied interpretation at the Munich Academy of Music and Theatre, and occasionally also teaches at the Royal Academy of Music in London.

Together with his regular piano accompanist Gerold Huber, Christian Gerhaher has devoted himself to lied interpretation for well over 30 years now, in concerts and recordings, and over the years they have been awarded several major prizes. The lied duo can be heard regularly on the stages of major international recital centres, for instance in the concert halls of New York, the Muziek- and Concertgebouw Amsterdam, the Cologne, Luxembourg and Berlin Philharmonie, the Cité de la musique in Paris, the Konzerthaus and Musikverein in Vienna, the Teatro della Zarzuela in Madrid and in La Scala Milan; they are particularly frequent guests in the Wigmore Hall in London. Christian Gerhaher und Gerold Huber perform regularly at the festivals in Munich, Aix, Heidelberg, Salzburg, Granada, Berlin, Lucerne, Edinburgh, Rheingau and Schleswig Holstein. The Liedwoche Elmau, devised by Christian Gerhaher and Gerold Huber, takes place for the third time in September 2023.

Christian Gerhaher has worked together with conductors such as Sir Simon Rattle, Daniel Harding, Herbert Blomstedt, Bernard Haitink, Pierre Boulez, Christian Thielemann, Kirill Petrenko, Nikolaus Harnoncourt, Sir Antonio Pappano, Daniel Barenboim, Andris Nelsons and Mariss Jansons, and for 30 years has given concerts in the world’s major concert halls. Orchestras which regularly invite Christian Gerhaher to perform include the London Symphony Orchestra, the Concertgebouw Orchestra Amsterdam, and in particular the Berlin Philharmonic, where he was the first ever singer to be artist in residence, as well as the Swedish Radio Symphony and in particular the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra.

Particularly outstanding projects of the past season were three major opera productions: his debut as Don Alfonso in Mozart’s Così fan tutte under principal conductor Vladimir Jurowski at the Bavarian State Opera, and two productions of Wozzeck one under Antonio Pappano at the Royal Opera House Covent Garden, directed by Deborah Warner, followed immediately afterwards by the Festival d‘Aix-en-Provence conducted by Simon Rattle and directed by Simon McBurney.

In the current season Christian Gerhaher can be heard together with Gerold Huber in recitals in Amsterdam London, Madrid, Milan, Hamburg, Essen, Cologne and Berlin and later at the festivals in Munich and Salzburg. He again gives guest performances with the Berlin Philharmonic, this time singing the Gesangsszene by Karl Amadeus Hartmann conducted by Kirill Petrenko. Moreover at the inauguration concerts of Simon Rattle as principal conductor of the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra (Haydn’s Creation) and again in Stockholm (Mahler with the Swedish Radio Symphony Orchestra conducted by Daniel Harding), with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra under Jaap van Zweden, with the Concertgebouw Orchestra and John Eliot Gardiner, as well as the Czech Philharmonic Prague conducted by Jakub Hrůša.

Besides giving concerts and recitals, Christian Gerhaher is also a highly sought-after performer on the opera stage and has received several prizes such as the Laurence Olivier Award and the theatre prize Der Faust. His roles include Posa in Verdi’s Don Carlo, Amfortas (Wagner, Parsifal), Lenau (Holliger, Lunea, world premiere in 2018), Germont (Verdi, La Traviata), Figaro and Count Almaviva (Mozart, Le nozze di Figaro) as well as the title roles in Monteverdi’s L’Orfeo, in Mozart’s Don Giovanni, in Debussy’s Pelléas et Mélisande, in Verdi’s Simon Boccanegra and in Henze’s Der Prinz von Homburg. A milestone in Christian Gerhaher’s opera career was his portrayal of Wozzeck in September 2015 at Zurich Opera House in the celebrated staging by Andreas Homoki. The key role of Wolfram in Richard Wagner’s Tannhäuser continues to be a constant role in his calendar in the opera houses in Berlin, Vienna, London and Munich and recently at the Salzburg Easter Festival with Andris Nelsons conducting the Leipzig Gewandhausorchester. At the end of 2023 Christian Gerhaher makes his debut at the Metropolitan Opera in New York singing this role. He can also be heard at the Bavarian State Opera as Amfortas and again as Wolfram. He closes the season at his regular opera house in Munich singing the role of Golaud for the first time in a new production of Debussy’s Pelléas et Mélisande.

Christian Gerhaher’s CDs are issued by Sony Music, with which he has an exclusive partnership. Accompanied by Gerold Huber, the Schubert, Schumann and Mahler cycles have been released on this label. A unique project that preoccupied Christian Gerhaher and Gerold Huber for years – the complete recording of all Robert Schumann’s songs in a box set – was released by his exclusive label Sony Classical in autumn 2021. Alle Lieder is a coproduction with Bavarian Radio and the Heidelberg Frühling. Early in 2022 the recording of Othmar Schoeck’s Elegie with the Basle Chamber Orchestra and Heinz Holliger were released, followed closely by Holliger’s poet opera Lunea (on ECM) and Rihm’s Stabat Mater together with Tabea Zimmermann, and in addition his Lyrical Diary (a compendium of essays on lied interpretation) was published by the C. H. Beck Verlag. In May 2023 Mahler’s Das Lied von der Erde with Piotr Beczała as tenor partner and the outstanding Gerold Huber on the piano was issued.

Christian Gerhaher and his wife live with their three children in Munich.

© Christopher Jonas

CD

Schumann - Alle Lieder

The major project to record all of Schumann's songs has been completed.

A cooperation between Sony Classical, BR-KLASSIK and the International Lied Centre of the Heidelberger Frühling.

Christian Gerhaher and Gerold Huber have received numerous awards for this complete recording.

CD-Cover Schumann Alle Lieder

© Christopher Jonas

miscellaneous

Reading

In his new book, Christian Gerhaher provides deep insights into his artistic approach: He explains the special features of the great song composers and introduces us to works that never cease to amaze and move him. His focus is equally on the music and the lyrics and the exciting unity that both form in the song. A book about the demands that certain songs place on the singer, about success and failure, about the technical side of singing and the special relationship between singer and audience.


Published on 17 March 2022 by

C.H. Beck publishing house

CHRISTIAN GERHAHER

LYRISCHES TAGEBUCH

LIEDER VON FRANZ SCHUBERT BIS WOLFGANG RIHM


‘OPERNWELT’, Europe's leading specialist magazine for music theatre, chose ‘Halb Worte sind's, halb Melodie’ as its book of the year 2015. 


Published on 20.08.2015 by 

Henschel/Bärenreiter publishing house

CHRISTIAN GERHAHER

"Halb Worte sind's, halb Melodie"

Gespräche mit Vera Baur

Teaching

Professor für Liedgestaltung

Institut für künstlerische Gesangs- und Theaterausbildung

Logo Royal academy of music

Visiting Professor

Royal Academy of Music, London

vocal studies and opera

Lied duo

© Clive Barda

Today, Christian Gerhaher and Gerold Huber are recognised worldwide as one of the most outstanding Lied duos. They began making music together while still at school. Today, they see themselves as a permanent chamber music duo and concentrate on working together on the lied repertoire, be it classical, romantic or contemporary music. Thanks to their long and close collaboration, they achieve the highest level of interplay, sound interpretation and musical depth. Their recordings on CD as well as their recitals continue to delight audiences and the press. Reviews that emphasise the equality of the two partners and their organic cooperation are characteristic of the enduring and intensive musical dialogue within this song duo.

Opera

Alban Berg - Wozzeck

Wozzeck. Oper von Alban Berg

Vorstellungen im September/Oktober 2015

 

Christian Gerhaher in der Titelpartie am Opernhaus Zürich

www.opernhaus.ch

concert

Robert Schumann, Szenen aus Goethes Faust (Probe)

L'Orchestre et Chœur de l'Orchestre de Paris, Ltg. Daniel Harding

Robert Schumann, Szenen aus Goethes Faust

Gallery

Johann Wolfgang von Goethe


„Am farbigen Abglanz haben wir das Leben."

(Faust. Der Tragödie zweiter Teil, Erster Akt. Anmutige Gegend.)