Artist(s)

Christoph Prégardien
Precise vocal control, clear diction, intelligent musicality and an ability to get to the heart of everything he sings ensures Christoph Prégardien’s place among the world’s foremost lyric tenors. Especially revered as a Lieder singer, he can be heard this season at the Phiharmonie de Paris, the Palace of Arts Budapest, and the Wigmore Hall in London, as well as in Zurich, Lucerne, Kyoto, Tokyo and Bogotá. He will also perform at the Oxford Lieder Festival, the Chopin Festival in Warsaw, the Schubertiade Schwarzenberg Hohenems, as well as part of the “Schubert!” concert series with the Frankfurt Radio Symphony Orchestra.

Christoph Prégardien appears regularly with renowned orchestras the world over. He has worked with the Berlin and Vienna Philharmonics, the Amsterdam Concertgebouw Orchestra, the Philharmonia Orchestra, the Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France, as well as the Boston and San Francisco Symphonies, and with 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 Tamino (The Magic Flute), Almaviva (Rossini’s Il Barbiere di Siviglia), Fenton (Verdi’s Falstaff), Don Ottavio (Don Giovanni) and the title roles in Mozart’s La Clemenza di Tito and Idomeneo as well as Monteverdi’s Il Ritorno d’Ulisse in Patria.

His long experience singing the Evangelist roles, and his close working relationship with conductors such as Nagano, Chailly, Herreweghe, Harnoncourt, Luisi and Gardiner have provided him with the perfect basis for his increasing work conducting the works of Bach. Following the success of his conducting debut in 2012, leading Le Concert Lorrain and the Nederlands Kammerkoor in Bach’s St. John’s Passion, he has also become in-demand as a conductor this repertoire. In 2015 he led Le Concert Lorrain and the Balthasar-Neumann Choir, this time in the St. Matthew’s Passion, and in the following years returned to lead Le Concert Lorrain and the Dresdner Kammerchor on tour with Bach’s Christmas Oratorio. At a celebration concert for Philippe Herreweghe’s 70th birthday he also led the Collegium Vocale Gent. He will make his debut leading a symphony orchestra in spring 2019, when he will lead the Duisburg Philharmonic in works including Mozart’s Requiem.

The singer has recorded much of his repertoire on a discography which numbers over 150 records, 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 – selected as Editor’s Choice by Gramophone magazine and awarded the MIDEM Record of the Year – followed by 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 CD releases include A Matter of Heart – songs for voice, horn and piano with Olivier Darbellay and Michael Gees – as well as a recording of passion cantatas by Telemann and Bach with the Vox Orchester for Sony, where he appears as a baritone for the first time.

Teaching remains a very important part of Christoph Prégardien’s musical life, and in addition to his concert engagements he gives masterclasses worldwide for young singers. Following many years at the Hochschule für Musik und Theater in Zurich, he has been a professor at the Academy of Music in Cologne since 2004.

Cyprien Katsaris
Cyprien Katsaris, the French-Cypriot pianist and composer, was born on May 5th 1951 in Marseilles. He first began to play the piano at the age of four, in Cameroon where he spent his childhood. His first teacher was Marie-Gabrielle Louwerse.

A graduate of the Paris Conservatoire where he studied piano with Aline van Barentzen and Monique de la Bruchollerie (piano First Prize, 1969), as well as chamber music with René Leroy and Jean Hubeau (First Prize, 1970), he won the International Young Interpreters Rostrum-UNESCO (Bratislava 1977), the First Prize in the International Cziffra Competition (Versailles 1974) and he was the only western-European prize-winner at the 1972 Queen Elisabeth of Belgium International Competition. He was also awarded the Albert Roussel Foundation Prize (Paris 1970) and the Alex de Vries Foundation Prize (Antwerp 1972).

Composer(s)

Press

This duo -already performing together for decades- is so relaxed on stage." "They provoke each other in Loewe’s hyper virtuose 'Der Nöck." "Christoph Pregardiens voice sounds so natural, that you get the impression that there was never any teacher necessary.  
, 15-2-2019

A great singer together with a magical pianist, that produces an original CD to enjoy in twofold: song and piano transcription.
Klassiek Centraal, 23-12-2018

Many well-known titles, but also almost forgotten gems, all carefully and thoughtfully recited by the ever-impeccably singing Prégardien.
Luister, 07-12-2018

Both can work fine with these works that can give a nice effect in concert form.
Mania, 09-11-2018