Last December in New York Jonas Kaufmann received the Gerda Lissner Foundation Charity prize. The prize, in amount of 5.000 Dollar, is awarded yearly to an internationally renowned singer who in turn dedicates it to a social or artistic project of his choice. Kaufmann has donated the prize to the BSO's Children's and

Young People's Program Campus, a project for which he is also acting as an ambassador. The photo shows Kaufmann handing over the cheque to Staatsintendant Nikolaus Bachler and Henning Ruhe, the Head of the Opernstudio and Coordinator of the Education Department of the BSO, before the Don Carlo performance on the 29th of January 2012.

5.000 Dollar for the BSO's Children's and Young People's Program "Campus": Nikolaus Bachler, Jonas Kaufmann and Henning Ruhe.

© Wilfried Hösl

After the revival of “Don Carlo” in Munich, I’m looking forward to my debut as Faust in Vienna and to the four song recitals with Helmut Deutsch. We’ll present our new programme in the Musikverein in Vienna (February 13th),  in the Stephaniensaal in Graz (February 15th), in the Philharmonie in Berlin (February 17th) and in the Theatre des Champs-Elysees in Paris (February 20th). On the NEWS side you will find a video with some highlights from our programme.    
Jonas Kaufmann

Several clips from the live- streamed performance of "Don Carlo" (January 22nd) have been published on YouTube by the Bayerische Staatsoper, including the complete final scene.

Anja Harteros (Elisabetta) and Jonas Kaufmann (Carlo) in Verdis "Don Carlo", Bayerische Staatsoper München. Photo (C) Wilfried Hösl

Jubel, Bravogeschrei und Getrampel vor allem für Kaufmann und die Harteros … Die beiden Sänger haben schon in Lohengrin wunderbar mit einander harmoniert und sie boten auch diesmal Musiktheater in Vollendung.
Georg Freund, Der Neue Merker, 16.1.2012

Er sang die Titelrolle nicht als Tenor in Opernpose, sondern war bemüht, die charakterliche Labilität des Infanten aufzuzeigen, der mal bebend vor Angst zu Ebolis Füßen kauert, mal heldenmutig

aufbegehrt und dabei immer kopflos, ganz aus dem Affekt heraus zu handeln scheint. Gepaart war diese überzeugende Darstellung mit einer Gesangsleistung, die jenseits aller Geschmacksfragen als grandios bezeichnet werden muss.

Alexander Meissner, Klassik.com, 17.1.2012

Mais il faut ajouter que les performances solidairement données par Anja Harteros et Jonas Kaufmann dépassaient les rêves les plus fous de leurs supporters extasiés. Lui, après son épisode wagnérien barytonnant de la saison passée (Siegmund au Met) a retrouvé la position plus favorable de sa voix ; si peu italien qu’il soit de timbre, la cantilène Verdi va idéalement à son jeu expressif et dramatique d’ombres et de lumières, et la messa di voce phénoménale qui trouve dans ces longs sons tenus (rêvés) leur légitimation absolue. L’Infant est montré ici carrément malade, constamment sous la menace d’un raptus peut être bien épileptique, et Kaufmann le joue, l’incarne, le chante avec un mélange de défi extatique et de témérité vulnérable en très beau héros schillérien ténébreux : de la voix il caresse, et cingle.
André Tubeuf, Qobuz, 18.1.2012

New York, December 5th 2011: Musical America hosted its Artist of the Year Awards. Vocalist of the year is Jonas Kaufmann, who acknowledged the award as a sign that his vocal versatility is not only accepted but welcome in the States. “Now, I am not stuck in a corner as a ‘heldentenor’ or a ‘light Italian’ voice. I am having fun. I feel like I am in a dream, as if I’m entering another dimension. I hope to sit on this cloud for quite awhile.”

On December 10th the new production of Gounods „Faust“ had been transmitted live in HD to cinemas all over the world. To watch video clips from the dress rehearsal (November 25th) please click on the text marked in blue.

Jonas Kaufmann enacted the protagonist’s plight sensitively, shading the line with heroic ardour and exquisite finesse, as needed. He sculpted long pianissimo phrases that took our breath away, if not his.
Martin Bernheimer, Financial Times

Mr. Kaufmann, a Met superstar who recently performed a rare song recital on the Met stage, was a handsome, vocally splendid Faust. He sang the pensive and romantic passages with veiled dusky colorings and tender lyricism, and unleashed pent-up power in full-bodied phrases, capped by fearless high notes.
Anthony Tommasini, The New York Times

Jonas Kaufmann's darkly burnished tenor encompassed both the dramatic intensity and exquisite lyricism required of Faust. "Salut! demeure," his apostrophe to Marguerite's house, was a marvel

of sensitivity and dreaminess, and Mr. Nézet-Séguin's floating orchestral accompaniment helped create the illusion of Faust in the thrall of innocence.
Heide Waleson, The Wall Street Journal

As Faust, Jonas Kaufmann showed once again that he can sing just about any tenor part better than just about anyone else in the opera world. He flooded the lyric lines with dark, throbbing tone, surging to a secure high C in his “Salut! Demeure” aria.
James Jorden, New York Post

Jonas Kaufmann (Faust) and Marina Poplavskaya (Marguerite).

Photos: © Ken Howard / Metropolitan Opera

After Kaufmann’s tender yet potent account of “Salut! demeure chaste et pure” in Act III, my date leaned over and, in a throaty whisper, said, “Whoa—this guy’s got it all.  (…) And when Poplavskaya and Kaufmann get together—watch out! Generally, when operatic lovers spend the better part of an act dithering about whether to kiss each other, I start to climb out of my skin. But in the extended Act III seduction scene, these two modulate from the modest to the flirty to the reluctant to the anguished to the smoldering with a level of musicianship and emotional intensity that is ravishing.
Adam Green, Vogue

His voice is in glorious form, supple, strong and tinged with baritone-like depths. Paired with Kaufmann’s innate musical intelligence, it gives shape and color to every phrase. His Salut! Demeure chaste et pure was inflected with tender lyricism, culminating in a joyous powerful high C.
Corinna da Fonseca-Wollheim, The Classical Review

His voice is pure gold, and few tenors show s much total emotional control as he does.
Howard Kissel, The Huffington Post

On the NEWS side you will find our little film (15 Minutes) which presents some highlights from the new Lied Recital, which Helmut Deutsch and I performed on July 26th in the Nationaltheater in Munich: Songs from Franz Liszt, Gustav Mahler, Henri Duparc and Richard Strauss. Between the songs you’ll hear some statements from Helmut and me. We hope that you like the new

programme and we are looking forward to see you at one of our next recitals, either in the Musikverein in Vienna (February 13th), the Stephaniensaal in Graz (February 15th), the Philharmonie in Berlin (February 17th), in the Theatre des Champs-Elysees in Paris (February 20th) or in the Festspielhaus in Baden-Baden (April 23th).

Jonas Kaufmann

London, October 6th 2011: In the category "recital" Jonas Kaufmann's album with Verismo Arias got a Gramophone Classical Music Award 2011. "The reason people will buy it is simply this - a great singing actor at his peak, singing very, very well", reads the statement of the editors of "Gramophone".

New York, April 22, 2011. Jonas Kaufmann’s role début in the new production of Wagner’s “Die Walküre” at the Metropolitan Opera was greeted with equal enthusiasm from press and public.

“The audience fell in love with the new Met Siegmund, Mr. Kaufmann, who proved his Wagnerian prowess last summer as Lohengrin at Bayreuth. Handsome and limber, he looked like a young demigod ...

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Photo: © Ken Howard / Metropolitan Opera

New York, April 17, 2011: At a gala dinner held in New York’s legendary Plaza Hotel, Jonas Kaufmann was singled out for the coveted “Opera News Award”. With this award, the editors of OPERA NEWS magazine regularly pay honor to extraordinary accomplishments in the operatic field.

Senior Editor Louise T. Guinther justified the award by saying: "Jonas Kaufmann has seduced opera audiences the world over with a uniquely plaintive timbre, a lieder-singer's interpretive subtlety and the depth and range of his dramatic portrayals. His intensity and intelligence, his suppleness of voice and body, combined with innate musicality and smoldering good looks, make him the model of the 21st-century opera star."

www.operanews.com

The recipients of the Sixth Annual OPERA NEWS Awards: Bryn Terfel, Patricia Racette, Kiri Te Kanawa, Riccardo Muti and Jonas Kaufmann | © Dario Acosta 2011

What tenor doesn’t dream of one day singing the big “hits” from the verismo era, thrilling pieces like “Ridi, Pagliaccio” (“Laugh, Pagliaccio!”) or Turiddu’s farewell to his mother from “Cavalleria rusticana”. I remember when I was a student, I used to think to myself: “Man, it must be awesome to be able to sing that stuff!” And it is. The recording sessions for my verismo album took place in Rome in May of 2010, and they were among the most beautiful experiences of the past season. With Antonio Pappano and the Orchestra dell’Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia taking part, the whole project was under a lucky star right from the outset. It didn’t seem like hard work to us; we just had fun putting it all together.

My personal favorite on this album is a largely unknown piece, the lament of Romeo over the dead Juliet from the operatic version by Riccardo Zandonai. In general I wanted to bring the familiar war horses, such as Andrea Chénier’s monologues and “Cielo e mar” from “La Gioconda” together with some rarities, among them arias from the “other Bohème” by Ruggiero Leoncavallo and the totally forgotten opera “I Lituani” by Amilcare Ponchielli. “Ombra di nube” by Licinio Refice may not be an aria at all, but rather an art song, but I found the recording by the verismo diva Claudia Muzio so heart‑stirring that I absolutely had to record the piece. For the grand finale, I picked the famous, magnificently moving duet from “Andrea Chénier”. The role of Maddalena is sung by my colleague Eva-Maria Westbroek, with whom I hope to have the pleasure of many a joint appearance in coming seasons.

Jonas Kaufmann