Christoph Pregardien (Tenor) - Short Biography

Christoph Prégardien (Tenor)

Born: January 18, 1956 - Limburg an der Lahn, Germany

The German tenor, Christoph Prégardien, who is widely regarded as among the foremost lyric tenors, began his career in music with the Limburg Cathedral Choir. He studied voice with Martin Gründler at the Frankfurt College of Music (garduated in 1983), and later took lessons with Carla Castellani in Milan, with Karlheinz Jarius in Frankfurt and Alois Treml in Stuttgart. In 1978 he won the Federal Republic of Germany vocal competition in Berlin.

Christoph Prégardien sang opera in Frankfurt am Main, Stuttgart, Hamburg, Antwerp, Karlsruhe, Ghent, and other European cities. As a concert singer Christoph Prégardien regularly collaborates with such well-known conductors as Frans Brüggen, John Eliot Gardiner, Michael Gielen, Nikolaus Harnoncourt, Philippe Herreweghe, Christopher Hogwood, René Jacobs, Ton Koopman, Sigiswald Kuijken, Gustav Leonhardt and Helmuth Rilling. His repertoire includes the great oratorios and passions of the Baroque, the Classical and the Romantic periods, but he also sings works by 17^th century composers (e.g. Monteverdi, Heinrich Schütz, Purcell) and by 20^th century composers (Benjamin Britten, Igor Stravinsky, Killmayer, Rihm).

Christoph Prégardien痴 opera engagements (Ulisse, Tamino, Don Ottavio, Almaviva and Fenton) have taken him to Frankfurt and Stuttgart, and farther afield to Cairo, Montpellier, Tokyo and Parma.

After the resounding success of his first four records of Lieder (he studied at the Frankfurter Musikhochschule in the Lied Class with Hartmut Höll), Christoph Prégardien has made further CD痴 with songs by Schubert and Robert Schumann, he has recorded J.S. Bach痴 major Passions and Oratorios, George Frideric Handel痴 Messiah, the W.A. Mozart Requiem, Haydn痴 Creation and many other works. Among the singers who have studied with him and/or attended his master-classes:: Kieran Carrel (Tenor), Shichao Cheng (Tenor), Julie Grutzka (Soprano), Yana Mamonova (Soprano), Katrin Müller (Soprano), Anna Padalko (Mezzo-soprano), Georg Christoph Peter (Bass), Robert Reichinek (Tenor), Sandra Stahlheber (Contralto).

Sources:
Mostly from liner notes to Capriccio CD 60046-2 (Matthäus-Passion, conducted by Hermann Max, 1996)
Contributed by Aryeh Oron (March 2001)

Christoph Prégardien: Short Biography | Bach Discography: Recordings of Vocal Works

Recordings of Bach Cantatas & Other Vocal Works

Conductor

Works

Frieder Bernius

Tenor

BWV 206, BWV 207a

Georg Christoph Biller

Tenor

BWV 248

Frans Brüggen

Tenor