About
Christoph Genz, tenor
Christoph Genz received his first musical training as a member of the Thomanerchor in
Leipzig. He studied musicology at King’s College,
Cambridge, where he was also a member of the choir. He subsequently studied singing with Hans-Joachim Beyer at the Hochschule für Musik in
Leipzig. He complemented this with lessons in Lieder interpretation with Elisabeth Schwarzkopf.
Christoph Genz has won a number of major prizes in international vocal competitions, including first prize at the Grimsby Competition (1995) and at the International Johann-Sebastian-Bach Competition in
Leipzig (1996).
Mr Genz has already performed a wide range of concerts, recitals and opera productions in Europe, Africa and the
U.S.A., with such conductors as Ton Koopman, Herbert Blomstedt, Frans Brüggen, Ludwig Güttler, Sir Simon Rattle, Philippe Herreweghe, Sigiswald Kuijken, Peter Schreier, Helmuth Rilling, Sir John Eliot Gardiner, Thomas Hengelbrock, Marek Janowski, Jesus Lopez-Coboz, Michail Jurowski and Giuseppe Sinopoli.
The tenor has also made CD recordings with, among others, Musica Antiqua Köln, conducted by Reinhard Goebel, as well as recordings of various works by J.S. Bach and Max Bruch, Bach’s St John Passion and several cantatas, conducted by Ludwig Güttler and Mendelssohn’s Lobgesang, conducted by Helmuth Rilling and Bach cantatas, conducted by John Eliot Gardiner. He has also recorded a CD featuring Lieder by Mozart and canzonets by Haydn, and his latest recording is devoted to Schubert Lieder.
Christoph Genz is a regular performer at renowned festivals, such as the Schubertiade Hohenems/Feldkirch, Verbier, Davos, Luzerner Musikfestwochen,
Aix-en-Provence, and Schleswig-Holstein Musikfestival. In addition, he has sung numerous recitals in such venues as the Alte Oper in Frankfurt, the Concertgebouw Amsterdam, the Louvre in Paris and the Wigmore Hall in
London.
During the 1997/98 season, Mr Genz was a member of the ensemble at the
Basel opera. He also made a number of guest appearances, e.g. at the Opéra de Nancy (Ferrando in Così fan tutte), Théâtre des Champs-Élysées in Paris (Tamino in Die Zauberflöte), the Opéra de Lausanne, the Teatro alla Scala in
Milan (conducted by Giuseppe Sinopoli), and at the Festival d’Aix-en-Provence (Die Zauberflöte). In the 2000/2001 season, Christoph Genz made his début as Ferrando in Così fan tutte at the Hamburg State Opera, where he has since sung many different parts. Starting with the 2004/05 season, Christoph Genz will continue to make guest appearances in
Hamburg.
Stephan Genz, baritone
Stephan Genz was born in Erfurt (
Germany) in 1973. He received his first musical training as a member of the Thomanerchor in
Leipzig. He studied singing with Hans-Joachim Beyer at the Musikhochschule in Leipzig and, from 1994, also with Mitsuko Shirai and Hartmut Höll in
Karlsruhe. Later he attended classes in Lieder interpretation with Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau and Elisabeth Schwarzkopf.
Stephan Genz has won awards in such prestigious international competitions as the Johannes Brahms Competition in Hamburg and the Hugo Wolf Competition in
Stuttgart.
He has received numerous invitations to make guest appearances, including Berlin (Deutsche Staatsoper), Hamburg, Dresden, Lausanne, Strasbourg and
Paris (Bastille, Théâtre des Champs-Élysées), Milano (Teatro alla Scala) and the Aix-en-Provence Festival.
Stephan Genz has sung with many important orchestras, performing under such well-known conductors as Myung-Whun Chung, Marcus Creed, Gerd Albrecht, Daniel Harding, Philippe Herreweghe, Thomas Hengelbrock, Gustav Kuhn, Sigiswald Kuijken, Jesus Lopez-Coboz, Fabio Luisi, Kurz Masur, Georges Prêtre, René Jacobs and Giuseppe Sinopoli.
He has released many recordings of Lieder, and some of these have been awarded major prizes such as the Diapason d’Or and the Timbre de Platine.
In October 1999 the baritone was awarded the Schleswig-Holstein Brahms Prize and the Gramophone Award, and in 2000 he was awarded the Belgian critics’ prize Prix du Jeune Musicien de l’Année 2000. Numerous song recitals and concerts in the
USA and nearly every European country round off the baritone’s activities. His début in
London’s Wigmore Hall in March 1997 was a resounding success, and since then he has returned to this venue on many occasions with Lieder recitals. His London début was followed by invitations to give song recitals in many European locations—Amsterdam (Concertgebouw), Frankfurt (Alte Oper), Cologne (Philharmonie), Brussels (Opéra Royal de la Monnaie), Paris (Châtelet, Champs-Élysées, Louvre), the Schubertiade in Feldkirch/Hohenems, the Bergen International Festival, the Karlsruhe Handel Festival, the Edinburgh Festival, Italy (including the Maggio Musicale in Florence) and France (Verbier Festival, Aix-en-Provence Festival)—and farther afield in New York, Spain and Japan (Tokyo, Okoyama, Nagaoka).
In January 2002, Stephan Genz toured the USA and
Canada with an enthusiastically received Lieder programme. In April 2002 Stephan Genz gave his début at the Hamburg State Opera as Guglielmo in Così fan tutte.
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