After a fantastic chamber song recital, this time he is coming to Český Krumlov to perform with a large symphonic orchestra in an opera gala. Kaufmann has prepared a selection of the best pieces, the most famous arias by Verdi, Puccini, Bizet, Massenet and Mascagni as well as a few operetta melodies, which he loves so much but which are unfortunately sinking into oblivion, for the Czech audience.

The biggest star of the rich festival offer will be the superstar of the world of opera, tenor Jonas Kaufmann. Jonas Kaufmann is a supreme artist. He possesses perfect vocal technique, unmistakable enchanting voice quality, significant acting talent as well as a charismatic personality. Responses say, “Since the times of Franco Corelli or Mario Del Monaco we haven’t seen such an attractive tenor.” He is acknowledged for his ability to stylishly cover the German, Italian as well as French repertoire and impressively master different opera characters, from straightforward, manly characters to psychologically sophisticated heroes with split personalities. He excels with his performances on the most prestigious music stages. He is the holder of many important awards – award for the best singer “Sänger des Jahres” and the readers’ prize at the International Opera Awards 2013. He has deservedly reached the very top of the singers’ world.

Kaufmann was born in Munich into a family of music enthusiasts. Already as a child he took a liking to classical music, played the piano and sang in a choir. Later he started studying mathematics but in the end singing prevailed. He started his career in the opera houses in Saarbrücken and Stuttgart, later he became a member of the Zurich Opera, where they offered him significant opportunities for his subsequent career which resulted in an explosion of his career.

The decisive moment in his career was the conquest of the first opera stage, the Metropolitan Opera. It happened on 4^th February 2006 when he sang Alfréd in La Traviata alongside Angela Gheorghiu and under the baton of Marco Armiliato. He remembers the decisive evening in his career when he had the Met at his feet, “It was clear to me that everybody in the audience had bought a ticket to see Angela. And they didn’t care about a certain Jonas Kaufmann. The more surprising it was when I stepped in front of the curtain during the curtain call. Such madness broke out, the audience started applauding in such a way that I was completely stunned and it brought me to my knees. Since that moment I have been in a completely different singers’ league.”

It was a great honour for Kaufmann when in 2011, 17 years after the performance by Luciano Pavarotti in 1994, he became the first singer to be invited by the Metropolitan Opera to perform his own song recital on the stage of this most prestigious opera house in the world. The New York Times, which called Kaufmann the “Met superstar”, remarked that while Pavarotti received this honour after 20 years of performing at the Metropolitan Opera, it took Kaufmann only five years after his debut at the Met. 

Kaufmann is looking forward to his gala concert in Český Krumlov, “I had heard about the festival and I had of course known Český Krumlov as a fabulous place. When I got the invitation to open this year’s festival I did not hesitate. I am really looking forward to experiencing the atmosphere I have heard so much about with my own eyes.” He will present famous opera arias from Tosca, Manon Lescaut, La Forza del Destino, Carmen, Werther, Cavalleria Rusticana and others accompanied by the Prague Radio Symphony Orchestra under the baton of Jochen Rieder.

Critics praise his performances in Tosca with the following words, “Jonas Kaufmann has seen audiences calling bravo exultantly. The viewers listened to his impressive high tones during Cavaradossi’s cries ʻVittoria!ʼ with awe.” Kaufmann’s Don José has received the following review, “The breathtaking flower aria in the second act culminated to the highest tone which gradually softened until it faded completely. In the final scene, when his last, desperate attempt to win Carmen’s love fails, he changes from an impassioned suitor to a frenzied murderer in a single moment with frightening convincingness.”

Many beautiful roles surely still lie ahead of him. In the last few years he has started with the Wagnerian repertoire. Kaufmann is preparing for Andrea Chénier at the Royal Opera House in London in January next year and at the Osterfestspiele 2015 in Salzburg he will perform the role of Canio in Pagliacci for the first time. He is also slowly preparing for the role of Othello. He is finishing his current album with an orchestra just now. It will include melodies from the golden era of the operetta and the early days of sound film. “I believe that this recording will be successful and perhaps I will also be able to present something from this so-called ʻlightʼ muse in Český Krumlov besides opera arias.”