The tenor Christian Elsner, born in Freiburg im Breisgau, has been an internationally sought-after soloist and successful vocal pedagogue for many years. He passionately shares his experiences with the next generation as a professor of voice, having taught at the Musikhochschule Würzburg from 2006 to 2017 and at the Hochschule für Musik in Karlsruhe since 2018. Many of his alumni perform at opera houses such as the Hamburg State Opera, the Zurich Opera House, or the Semperoper Dresden.
After studying voice with Prof. Martin Gründler, the singer deepened his passion for interpreting art songs in the Lied class of Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau, a passion that remains close to his heart. Through awards at international competitions such as the ARD Competition in Munich and the Walther Gruner Lieder Competition in London, Christian Elsner soon began collaborating with accompanists such as Charles Spencer, Hartmut Höll, Gerold Huber, and Burkhard Kehring. He has given numerous song recitals at venues including the Alte Oper Frankfurt, the Cologne Philharmonic, the Gewandhaus Leipzig, the Semperoper Dresden, the Theater de la Monnaie Brussels, the Philharmonie Paris, the Ravinia Festival in Chicago, the Schubertiade Feldkirch, and the Tokyo Spring Festival.
Christian Elsner's opera career has evolved from roles such as Tabarco in Handel's "Almira" at the Theater Bremen and Pedrillo in Mozart's "The Abduction from the Seraglio" at the State Theater Darmstadt, to roles like Lenski in Tchaikovsky's "Eugene Onegin" and Macduff in Verdi's "Macbeth" at the Theater Heidelberg. He has also portrayed the title role in Mozart's "Idomeneo" at the Oslo Opera and the First Armored Man in Mozart's "The Magic Flute". He has performed these roles as a youthful heldentenor at the National Theater Munich, the Salzburg Festival, and the Opera Bastille in Paris. Since 2007, Richard Wagner's operas have become the focal point of his repertoire, with performances as Siegmund and Parsifal at the Deutsches Nationaltheater Weimar, the Staatstheater Kassel, the Teatro Petruzzelli in Bari, the Semperoper Dresden, the Vienna State Opera, and the Teatro Real Madrid. Inspired by this, the artist published the children's book "Lennie and the Ring of the Nibelung".
Many CD and DVD recordings featuring songs, concerts, and operas showcase his diverse repertoire. He has recorded works such as Beethoven's "Missa Solemnis" with the Dresden Staatskapelle under Fabio Luisi, the Ninth Symphony with the Gewandhaus Orchestra under Herbert Blomstedt and with the Berlin Philharmonic under Simon Rattle, Mahler's "Das Lied von der Erde" with the Tonhalle Orchestra Zurich under David Zinman, Mendelssohn's "Lobgesang" with the MDR Symphony Orchestra under Jun Märkl, Dvorak's "Stabat Mater" under Mariss Jansons, Schubert's "Mass in E-flat major" with the Berlin Philharmonic under Nikolaus Harnoncourt, Mozart's "Idomeneo" with the Danish Radio Sinfonietta under Adam Fischer, Wagner's "Parsifal" with the RSB Berlin under Marek Janowski, as well as song recordings including Beethoven's "An die ferne Geliebte", Brahms' "Four Serious Songs", Mahler's "Songs of a Wayfarer" and "Rückert Lieder", Schubert's "Winterreise" (arrangement for string quartet), Schumann's "Dichterliebe" and "Liederkreis op. 39", and Wagner's "Wesendonck Lieder".
Among the numerous concerts in all major centers of classical music such as the Berlin Philharmonie, the Munich Herkulessaal, the Elbphilharmonie Hamburg, the Concertgebouw Amsterdam, the Vienna Musikverein, the Salzburg Festival Hall, Carnegie Hall New York, La Scala Milan, or the Suntory Hall Tokyo, performances of Beethoven's "Missa Solemnis" under Carlo Maria Giulini, Haydn's "The Creation" under Zubin Mehta, Dvorak's "Stabat Mater" under Mariss Jansons, Mahler's "Das Lied von der Erde" under Yannick Nézet-Séguin, Schmidt's "The Book with Seven Seals" under Manfred Honeck, Wagner's "Parsifal" under Semyon Bychkov, or Beethoven's Ninth Symphony as part of a world tour with the Berlin Philharmonic under Sir Simon Rattle are among his personally most valuable musical highlights.
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