Christoph Prégardien

His lyric tenor voice had a youthful glow, yet he sang with plaintive beauty and piercing insight.
- The New York Times

Precise vocal control, clear diction, intelligent musicality, and an ability to get to the heart of everything he sings all ensure Christoph Prégardien’s place among the world’s foremost lyric tenors. Especially revered as a Lieder singer, he also regularly appears with renowned orchestras the world over. He has worked with the Berlin and Vienna Philharmonics, Amsterdam Concertgebouw Orchestra, Philharmonia Orchestra, Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France, as well as the Boston and San Francisco Symphonies, alongside conductors such as Barenboim, Metzmacher, and Thielemann. His wide orchestral repertoire includes the great baroque, classical, and Romantic oratorios and passions, as well as works from the 17th and 20th centuries. In opera, his roles have included, among others, Tamino, Almaviva (Il barbiere di Siviglia), Fenton (Falstaff), Don Ottavio, Titus, Ulisse, and Idomeneo.

The current season begins with recitals at the Oxford International Song Festival, together with Yaara Taal in Munich, at Haus Marteau, in Monheim, and in Weiden as well as with Michael Gees in Marbach and Blaibach. In December, he returns to the Filharmonie Brno, where he most recently performed Handel’s Messiah, to sing songs from Mahler’s Des Knaben Wunderhorn under Dennis Russell Davies. This is followed in January by two trio concerts in Switzerland with violinist Leila Schayegh, featuring works by Beethoven and Schubert; the programme will also be presented at the Schubertiade Schwarzenberg in June. Further engagements include a recital at the Festival internacional de música de Bogotá and the closing concert and a masterclass at the Leeds Song Festival. He will also serve as a jury member at the Concours Reine Elisabeth and the Bachwettbewerb Leipzig. A major project of recent seasons has been Johannes Maria Staud’s Die schöne Müllerin/These Fevered Days, combining Schubert’s cycle in a newly orchestrated version with seven new songs after texts by Emily Dickinson. Following the 2024 world premiere with Ensemble Kontraste, highly successful performances followed last season with Klangforum Wien (Klangspuren Schwaz and Vienna Konzerthaus) as well as with the Remix Ensemble in Porto.

His extensive experience singing the Evangelist roles, together with his close working relationship with conductors such as Nagano, Chailly, Herreweghe, Harnoncourt, Luisi, and Gardiner, have provided the perfect base for his increasing dedication to conducting this repertoire as well. Following the success of his conducting debut in 2012 leading Le Concert Lorrain and the Nederlands Kammerkoor, he now regularly conducts renowned ensembles like the Balthasar Neumann Choir, Dresdner Kammerchor, Collegium Vocale Gent, and RIAS Kammerchor. In 2024, he took to the podium for Bach’s St Matthew Passion with Vespres d’Arnadí and the Cor de Cambra del Palau in Barcelona, returning to the latter in 2025 for a tour of Bach’s Christmas Oratorio with the Belgian ensemble Il Gardellino.

The singer has recorded much of his repertoire on a discography of over 150 albums, which have received awards such as the Orphée d’Or of the Académie du Disque Lyrique, the Edison Award, the Cannes Classical Award, and the Diapason d’Or. For the label Challenge Classics, he has recorded Schubert’s Schwanengesang with Andreas Staier and Die schöne Müllerin with Michael Gees, which was selected as Editor’s Choice by Gramophone magazine and awarded the MIDEM Record of the Year award. Shortly thereafter followed recordings of Hugo Wolf’s Italienisches Liederbuch with Julia Kleiter, Between Life and Death, Wanderer, and the Grammy-nominated Winterreise disc – all with Michael Gees – as well as Father and Son with his son Julian Prégardien. His Schubert CD Poetisches Tagebuch with Julius Drake was awarded the German Critics’ Award 2016. His most recent releases include one recorded in collaboration with the Warsaw Chopin Institute with pianist Christoph Schnackertz featuring songs by Paderewski, Moniuszko and Duparc, and a new recording of Schubert’s Schwanengesang and Schumann’s Liederkreis, Op. 39 (with Julius Drake). In 2023, the Etcetera label released an album of Bach cantatas recorded with Stephan Schultz and Le Concert Lorrain, featuring Christoph Prégardien as baritone.

Teaching remains an important part of Christoph Prégardien’s musical life. Following many years at the Hochschule für Musik und Theater in Zurich and a professorship at the Academy of Music in Cologne, he continues to give masterclasses for young singers around the world.