Born 1956 in Limburg, Germany, Christoph Prégardien began his musical education as a choirboy. He then studied singing with Martin Gründler and Karlheinz Jarius in Frankfurt, Carla Castellani in Milan, Alois Treml in Stuttgart and attended Hartmut Höll’s lieder-class.
Widely regarded as among the foremost lyric tenors, Christoph Prégardien frequently collaborates with conductors such as Barenboim, Chailly, Gardiner, Harnoncourt, Herreweghe, Luisi, Metzmacher, Nagano, Sawallisch and Thielemann. His repertory spans a wide range from the great Baroque, Classical and Romantic Oratorios to 20th century works by Britten, Killmayer, Rihm, Stravinsky.
Recognized as an eminent recitalist, Christoph Prégardien is regularly welcomed at the major recital venues of Paris, London, Brussels, Berlin, Cologne, Amsterdam, Salzburg, Zurich, Vienna, Barcelona and Geneva, as well as during his concert tours throughout Italy, Japan and North America.
A longstanding collaboration unites him with his favourite piano partners Michael Gees and Andreas Staier. Soloist of choice for renowned orchestras, he performed with the Berlin and Vienna Philharmonic, Bavarian Radio Symphony, Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra Amsterdam, Gewand-hausorchester Leipzig, London Philharmonia, Staatskapelle Dresden, Philharmonie de Radio France, the Montreal, Boston, St. Louis and San Francisco Symphony Orchestras.
An important part of his repertory has been recorded by labels such as BMG, EMI, Deutsche Grammophon, Philips, Sony, Erato, Challenge Classics and Teldec. He is represented on more than a hundred and twenty titles, including nearly all of his active repertoire. His recordings of German Romantic Lied repertory have been highly acclaimed by the public and press and have received international awards including the prestigious Orphée d’Or of the Académie du Disque Lyrique-Prix Georg Solti, Preis der Deutschen Schallplattenkritik, Edison Award, Cannes Classical Award and Diapason d’Or.
As an opera singer, Christoph Prégardien has made stage appearences in major European houses, performing leading roles as Tamino (Zauberflöte), Don Ottavio (Don Giovanni), Almaviva (Il Barbiere di Seviglia), Fenton (Falstaff) and Monteverdi’s Ulisse. In Spring 2005, Christoph Prégardien sang the leading part in Mozart’s “La Clemenza di Tito” at the Paris National Opera conducted by Sylvain Cambreling.
An important aspect in the musical life of Christoph Prégardien is his intensive and varied educational work. From 2000 to 2005 Christoph Prégardien was in charge of a vocal class at the Hochschule für Musik und Theater in Zurich. Since the autumn of 2004, he is a professor at the Musikhochschule Köln. In a new combination of DVD and book, released in the serie “Schott Master Class”, he presents for the first time questions of singing technique and interpretation in word and picture. Film examples accompagny him during his lessons with masterclass students.
Christoph Prégardien now has a long-term cooperation with Challenge Classics. The first production on our label, released in February 2008, was Schubert’s “Die schöne Müllerin” with pianist Michael Gees. In the fall of 2008 “Schwanengesang” with pianist Andreas Staier followed and “Die schöne Müllerin” was awarded the Midem ‘Record of the Year’ 2009 at MIDEM, the world’s largest music industry trade fair. The duo Christoph Prégardien/Michael Gees also received the MIDEM ‘Vocal Recitals’ Award 2009. Throughout 2008 the recording received critical acclaim from many national and international magazines (Gramophone, Editor’s Choice & „Best of 2008“ among others).

"Throughout the evening Gees played as if he had composed the pieces himself and was therefore extremely vigilant to make sure the performance was carried out according to his inner ear. His eyes were not those of an artist intent on reproduction, but shone rather a lambent look of passion, just as one might imagine the composer as the creator.“ N. Campogrande Michael Gees’ biography certainly justifies the term: exceptional. Few others can claim to have a career already behind them at the tender age of fifteen: Born in 1953 into a world of sound and music, both parents are singers, the piano is his favourite toy at age three. Formal piano lessons follow at age five, and the young musician subsequently goes on to win the Steinway Competition at age eight and receives a scholarship at the Mozarteum in Salzburg.
The child prodigy is hailed as “Westphalian Mozart“, takes up studies at the conservatories in Detmold and Vienna and it seems as if he is fast on his way to become an internationally acclaimed pianist. Were it not for the gifted child’s longing to explore the world of sound on his own terms, to playfully experience his self like the great masters’ music, to invent their music all over again, note for note instead of limiting himself to a technical practice regimen. Michael Gees flees the pressure of a predetermined competitional career at the age of fifteen, leaves school, conservatory and home behind, supports himself through odd jobs, works as archeological assistant and, in the process, for the duration of two full years, becomes a sailor.
Chance leads him back to the Hochschule für Musik und Theater in Hannover, where he resumes his compositional studies and eventually graduates. He now develops first rate pianistic chops on his own, composes a number of works, gains international renown as lied accompanist of extraordinary proportions with Christoph Prégardien and also appears in concerts globally; in Paris, London, New York and Tokio. All the while, he nurses and feeds his preference for combining the performance of music of past masters with living inspiration, thereby creating remarkable performances with his instrument.
In 1989, Gees founds “forum kunstvereint“ in his adopted hometown of Gelsenkirchen; the Consol Theater, also installed by him, opens its doors in 2001 on the confines of the former mining area Consolidation. There, music, dance and theatre projects take shape, where children, youths and adults alike are incited and encouraged to discover and realize their own artistic impulses. A steady number of CDs have been released from 1996 onward on forum kunstvereint, CPO and EMI, showcasing Michael Gees’ range.
Since 2008 Michael Gees is associated to the Netherlands label Challenge Classics. The 2009 release of the Schöne Müllerin with Christoph Prégardien won the MIDEM Classical Award and became Recording of the Year. Michael Gees works on solo-recitals which enjoy breaking with tradition, on modernized lied-renditions, melodramas and stage music.

In opera, concert and Lied repertoire, Julian Prégardien enjoys widespread success in equal measure on an international scale.
He has gained particular acclaim in the tenor part of the Evangelist in the passions and oratorios of J. S. Bach. Prégardien recently sang the Evangelist in the Christmas Oratorio under the baton of Peter Schreier in the Munich Philharmonie, as well as the Evangelist in the St Matthew Passion at the Lincoln Center in New York conducted by Philippe Herreweghe, at the Amsterdam Concertgebouw with the Netherlands Bach Society and at the Munich Herkulessaal with Peter Dijkstra and the Bavarian Radio Choir in a CD/DVD production that has been broadcast several times by different German television stations. Prégardien also recently sang in a television production of the St John Passion in Riga (Latvia) with Concerto Copenhagen conducted by Lars Ulrik Mortensen. He had previously recorded the St John Passion in 2010 on the French ZIG ZAG label in a production that received excellent international reviews. In early 2015 he will once more record the Evangelist in the St John Passion for Bavarian Radio. 
During the 2014/15 season, Prégardien will also perform Bach cantatas on tour with René Jacobs, and in Barcelona and Paris he will sing the Christmas Oratorio conducted by Christophe Rousset. Under the baton of Andrea Marcon he will likewise perform the Mass in B Minor with Berlin Radio Symphony Orchestra, as well as a series of Bach cantatas with Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra; he will also go on tour singing the St Matthew Passion with Le Concert Lorrain conducted by Christoph Prégardien. 
Further collaborations in the 2014/15 season include Bach cantatas with the Stuttgart International Bach Academy under Hans-Christoph Rademann, Mozart’s Requiem with the Deutsche Kammerphilharmonie Bremen and the Bavarian Radio Chorus under Peter Dijkstra, and Haydn’s Creation with Christoph Poppen conducting the Cologne Chamber Orchestra.

On the opera stage, Prégardien has recently sung the part of Jaquino in Fidelio with the Deutsche Kammerphilharmonie Bremen under Paavo Järvi. He also covered the role of Eurimedes in Telemann’s Orpheus at Frankfurt Opera, where he was previously an ensemble member and covered the roles of Tamino in The Magic Flute, Jason in Charpentier’s Medée and The Novice in Billy Budd. At Aix-en-Provence Festival he sang the roles of Nencio in Haydn’s L’infedeltà delusa and Belfiore in Mozart’s La finta giardiniera. In June of 2015 he will make a guest appearance as Renaud in Lully’s Armide at the Opéra National de Lorraine (Nancy), with Christophe Rousset conducting and David Hermann as stage director. In the 2013/14 season he sang Pedrillo in Die Entführung aus dem Serail with the Akademie für Alte Musik Berlin under René Jacobs (at Bremen Musikfest, Amsterdam Concertgebouw and La Monnaie in Brussels), as well as the title role in Rameau’s Zaïs with Christophe Rousset and Les Talens Lyriques (Amsterdam, Versailles, Theater an der Wien). Both productions were recorded for CD release.

Julian Prégardien can be heard on the Virgin Classics release of Ezio (Gluck) under Alan Curtis, a production that received an ECHO Classical Award in 2012. He was also among the singers on the roster of Cecilia Bartoli’s second CD release devoted to the works of Agostino Steffani, entitled Stabat Mater (Decca Classics). 
With the title An die Geliebte, Julien Prégardien’s first solo recording was released in early 2014 on the Myrios Classics label, featuring Lied repertoire accompanied by Christoph Schnackertz at the piano – a release that reaped high praise from the critics. In late 2014, Challenge Records International will publish a joint vocal collaboration between father and son, featuring Christoph and Julien Prégardien singing Lied repertoire accompanied by pianist Michael Gees.

Julien Prégardien has given Lieder recitals at Davos Festival, at the Menuhin Festival in Gstaad, at Stuttgart Musikfest, at the Rheingau Music Festival, at the Mecklenburg-Vorpommern Festival, at the Styriarte Festival in Graz, at Maggio Musicale Fiorentino, Cologne Philharmonie, Stadtcasino Basel, Innsbruck Festival and the Edinburgh and Schwetzingen festivals. In 2013 he performed for the first time at the Schubertiade in Schwarzenberg, where he is re-invited to perform in 2015. The 2014/15 season will also see a series of joint Lieder recitals with his father scheduled at the Haydn Festival in Brühl, at Stuttgart Musikfest, at Wigmore Hall and at Salzburg Whitsun Festival.

The singer also enjoys presenting distinctive chamber music programmes. At Mecklenburg-Vorpommern Festival, to commemorate the 200th anniversary of Schumann’s birth in 2010, he premièred his own arrangement of Schumann’s Liederkreis cycle for string quartet and improvised piano intermezzos with Michael Gees and the Gémaux Quartet. In 2014, in collaboration with the Ricercar Consort, he devised a “Schubertiad” featuring Lied arrangements, instrumental works and texts by Schubert and his contemporaries, arranged for flute, guitar and barytone viol. That project will be released by Myrios Classics as Prégardien’s second solo CD in 2015. 

Born in Frankfurt, Julien Prégardien was trained in the Limburg Cathedral Choir and went on to study voice at Freiburg Musikhochschule. Since the summer semester of 2013 he has been teaching the oratorio class at the Hochschule für Musik und Theater in Munich.