René Pape

"...the man with one of the most beautiful bass voices in the world... It is not often that we hear this music with such glorious intonation... when it comes to exquisite vocal culture and perfect Wagnerian gravitas, René Pape is hard to beat." Review of the CD "Wagner," Gramophone (London), July 2011 René Pape, born in Dresden in 1964, was a member of his hometown's legendary Kreuzchor from 1974–81. While still a student, he made his debut at the Berlin State Opera Unter den Linden in 1988, where he was immediately offered an engagement. Since then, he has sung most of the major roles of his already brilliant career at this house, often under the direction of Music Director Daniel Barenboim. Pape is also a sought-after concert singer and has performed with leading international orchestras and conductors. His recordings have already won two Grammys. 1990–1994 First appearances at the Salzburg Easter Festival. At Solti's invitation, he sings Sarastro in The Magic Flute at the Salzburg Festival (1991); also under Solti, he makes his debut in the same role at La Scala in Milan (1991). Debut as King Philip in Verdi's Don Carlo in Basel and with the Metropolitan Opera as Don Fernando at EXPO 1992 in Seville. Haydn's The Seasons with the Orchestre de Paris and the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, both under Solti (1992); first guest appearances at the Vienna State Opera as Don Fernando, Speaker, and Sarastro (1992/93 season). Bayreuth debut as Fasolt (Das Rheingold, 1994–97). 1995–1997 First appearance in New York as the Night Watchman in Wagner's Meistersinger at the Met (1995); Hunding in Die Walküre at the Vienna State Opera (1996); Rocco in Fidelio at the Salzburg Festival (1996); debuts at Covent Garden in Palestrina (Pfitzner) and Lohengrin (1997). Fasolt and King of Egypt (Aida) at the Met (1997). Met tour to Japan with Verdi's Requiem and as Brander in Berlioz's La Damnation de Faust (1997). 1998 Debut at the Paris Opéra as King Marke (Tristan und Isolde); Verdi's King Philip in Salzburg; King Heinrich (Lohengrin) and Old Hebrew (Saint-Saëns' Samson et Dalila) at the Met. 1999 Acclaimed portrayal of King Marke at the Met under Levine; debut at the Chicago Lyric Opera as Pogner in the Meistersinger; Mozart's Figaro at the Berlin State Opera. 2000 Leporello in Don Giovanni at the Salzburg Festival; Rocco and Escamillo (Carmen) at the Met; King Marke at the Berlin State Opera. 2001 Debut at the San Francisco Opera as Pogner; appearances in Japan with the Met (Verdi's Requiem and Saint-Saëns' Old Hebrew). 2002 Role debut as Don Giovanni at the Berlin State Opera; Frère Laurent in Gounod's Roméo et Juliette at the Festival in Orange; Rocco at the Bavarian State Opera; Orest in Strauss' Elektra at the Met. Musical America magazine names him "Singer of the Year." 2003 King Heinrich at Covent Garden; debut at the Glyndebourne Festival as King Marke; Escamillo in the Arena di Verona; role debut as Gurnemanz (Parsifal) at the Met. On DVD: Rocco in the Met production of Fidelio under Levine. 2004 Leporello at the Met; Gurnemanz with the NDR Symphony Orchestra; King Marke at the Lucerne Festival; King Philip in Florence. On DVD: the Met productions of Tristan und Isolde (Record Academy Prize, Tokyo, 2005), Samson et Dalila, and Die Meistersinger, all under Levine. 2005 Rocco at the Chicago Lyric Opera. Sings Méphistophélès in Gounod's Faust for the first time at the Met under Levine; Gurnemanz at the "White Nights" of St. Petersburg and the title role in Boris Godunov at the Berlin State Opera under Barenboim. 2006 Beethoven's Missa solemnis with the Boston Symphony Orchestra under Levine. At the Met, he sings King Heinrich, Gurnemanz, King Philip, Sarastro, tours with the Met ensemble, and participates in a Met gala concert. For his Boris Godunov at the Berlin State Opera, he is named "Singer of the Year" by German opera critics. King Philip at the Mariinsky Theatre and in Munich. Signs exclusive contract with Deutsche Grammophon. Recordings with DG: Sarastro in The Magic Flute under Abbado (Gramophone Award 2006) and The Mozart Album – a selection of arias with Deutsche Grammophon's vocal stars. 2007 Sarastro at the Met; Gurnemanz, Boris Godunov, Don Giovanni, and King Philip in Berlin; King Marke at the Glyndebourne Festival under Jiří Bělohlávek, on a Japan tour under Barenboim, and in Munich under Kent Nagano. Appearance at the "White Nights" of St. Petersburg under Valery Gergiev and at a gala concert at the Los Angeles Opera. Beethoven's Ninth Symphony under Franz Welser-Möst in Cleveland (the recording will be released in the autumn), with the BBC Symphony Orchestra under Jiří Bělohlávek at the BBC Proms, and at the Berlin State Opera under Barenboim. René Pape is honored with an Opera News Award 2006 by the Metropolitan Opera Guild. 2008 Appearances in Tristan in Madrid and at the Met; Die Meistersinger (Pogner), Don Giovanni, and Eugene Onegin in Berlin; Don Carlo in Berlin, Oslo, and Vienna; role debut as Banquo in Verdi's Macbeth at the Met; Die Walküre in Barcelona; Boris Godunov in Dresden. Concert appearances in Beethoven's Ninth in Berlin and Verdi's Requiem in Berlin and Spain; Mussorgsky's Songs and Dances of Death with the Met Orchestra and Gergiev at Carnegie Hall; Mendelssohn's Elijah with the Orchestra dell’Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia under Kurt Masur in Rome. Televised gala concert in Norway in the presence of the King; concert performance of the first act of Die Walküre in Berlin's Waldbühne. Releases: on DVD A Mozart Gala from Salzburg with the Vienna Philharmonic under Daniel Harding. On his first solo album for Deutsche Grammophon, he is heard in a selection of opera arias titled Gods, Kings & Demons with the Staatskapelle Dresden conducted by Sebastian Weigle (Echo Prize 2009). 2009 Zauberflöte, Lohengrin, Tristan, Parsifal, Faust, and Boris Godunov at the Berlin State Opera; Don Giovanni in Vienna; Rheingold and Walküre at the Met; Don Carlo with the La Scala ensemble in Tokyo; Faust at the Lyric Opera in Chicago. Concert appearances: Gala for the Met's 125th birthday under Levine; Verdi's Requiem with the Orchestra dell’Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia under Pappano in Rome and with the La Scala Orchestra under Barenboim in Berlin, Rome, and Tel Aviv; Mendelssohn's Paulus with the Gewandhaus Orchestra Leipzig under Blomstedt; Beethoven's Ninth Symphony with the NDR Symphony Orchestra under Dohnányi at the Schleswig-Holstein Music Festival and with the Deutsche Kammerphilharmonie Bremen under Paavo Järvi at the Salzburg Festival. Recitals in New York, Dresden, and Frankfurt. 2010 Performances at the Berlin State Opera (Faust, Tristan, Onegin), La Scala (Rheingold as the beginning of a new Ring production under the musical direction of Barenboim), Semperoper, and Met (Boris Godunov), as well as at the Salzburg Festival (Elektra). Concert engagements: Verdi's Requiem in Munich (Gergiev), Mendelssohn's Elijah in Barcelona, Bruckner's Te Deum at the Salzburg Festival, and in March, a charity gala for the Berlin State Opera at this house (Brahms' Liebeslieder). In January, he gives his first European solo recital outside Germany in Seville. 2011 Wotan in Die Walküre in Berlin (Barenboim), Gounod's Méphistophélès at Covent Garden (Evelino Pidò) and at the Met (Yannick Nézet-Séguin), further portrayals of Boris Godunov at the Met under Gergiev, King Philip at the Berlin State Opera and with the Met on a Japan tour, King Marke at the Munich Opera Festival under Kent Nagano. Participation in the gala celebrating Plácido Domingo's 70th birthday in Madrid, as well as concert appearances in Tokyo (third act of Parsifal with Gergiev and the Mariinsky Theatre ensemble), Zurich, Dresden, St. Petersburg, Berlin (in the Waldbühne with Barenboim conducting the West-Eastern Divan Orchestra), and Toronto. Recitals in Los Angeles, Munich, Tokyo, and at the Verbier Festival. Release: Scenes from Wagner Operas with the Staatskapelle Berlin under Daniel Barenboim. 7/2011