Carnegie Hall

With his striking stage presence and heroic sound, German tenor Jonas Kaufmann is a dashing force in the opera world. He has conquered many of the great roles, from Don José in Carmen to Siegmund in Die Walküre to the vast title characters of Parsifal, Werther, and Don Carlos. But to his devoted following, Kaufmann is also a peerless interpreter of lieder, art songs, and popular standards. Days before his solo recital debut at Carnegie Hall in 2014, The New York Times declared him “the most important, versatile tenor of his generation.”

The multi-dimensional artist showcases his range across five operas now available to Carnegie Hall+ subscribers for on-demand viewing. It’s a dazzling chance to watch Kaufmann in five different roles recorded within half a decade.

Kaufmann’s storied career began in Munich, where he studied piano and sang in his elementary school choir. He formalized his vocal training at the local University of Music and Performing Arts, taking on minor roles at the Bavarian State Opera. But after leaving school, he hit an early obstacle: “A year after graduating, I found that I had no clue how to sing,” he explained in a 2008 issue of Gramophone. “The voice constantly felt as though it could go at any moment.” A friend took him to see retired American baritone Michael Rhodes, who was then living in Trier, Germany, and who immediately diagnosed the flaws in his technique.

That dark sound—robust like that of a baritone, but also unusually ozonic, rocketing into the stratosphere—became his trademark, and it carried him far: from freshman appearances at the Stuttgart Opera and Hamburg State Opera to international debuts at Lyric Opera of Chicago, Opéra National de Paris, and La Scala. Earning critical stripes for his Don José at the Royal Opera House in 2006, that same year Kaufman made his debut as Alfredo in La raviata at the Metropolitan Opera alongside soprano Angela Gheorghiu. By the end of the decade, Kaufmann was headlining high-profile new productions, including the taxing lead in Lohengrin at the Bavarian State Opera, which would soon become a signature role, and releasing his first solo albums. 

In 2010, Kaufmann made headlines as the revolutionary painter Cavaradossi to Luc Bondy’s landmark staging of Tosca at the Bavarian State Opera, sharing the stage with soprano Karita Mattila. The sizzling performance is now available to Carnegie Hall+ subscribers, and it is the stuff of opera legend: a pair of superstars pushing each other to the vocal limit. At the Vienna State Opera in 2013, Kaufmann would bring another Puccini hero to life, the notorious bandit Dick Johnson, who mends his ways in La fanciulla del West to one of the composer’s most evocative scores. And in Vienna the following year for the Salzburg Festival, under the baton of Sir Antonio Pappano, he put his stamp on the title prince in Verdi’s epic Don Carlos.

Though once described by The New York Times as “one of the world’s great Wagner hopes,” Kaufmann has built his career on popular Italian and French roles rather than German ones, and it’s perhaps easy to see why. Striking looks and a muscular voice make him a strong fit for Italian melodrama. Kaufmann has triumphed in the verismo repertoire, even releasing a Verismo Arias collection in 2011. As Turiddu and Canio in Cavalleria Rusticana and Pagliacci, respectively, the tenor brought both sensitivity and fire to the Salzburg Easter Festival in 2015—a pair of touchstone roles also available on Carnegie Hall+.

Because of the breadth and versatility of his singing, Kaufmann fans have made sport of guessing what his next musical benchmark will be. The title role in Otello, perhaps? Viennese light opera gems, which he presented at Carnegie Hall in a memorable 2018 recital? Maybe a Christmas album, featuring a brawny rendition of Mariah Carey’s “All I Want for Christmas Is You”? Check, check, and check.

“It’s very difficult to decide what you’re willing to commit to in five or six years’ time,” Kaufmann confessed in an interview, “because it’s very difficult to really know what your voice [will be like] in five years’ time or what you’ll want to do then … One of the main things you need to [do] in this business [is] keep the attraction, keep the joy.” On Carnegie Hall+, subscribers can now experience this joy firsthand.

Photography: Kaufmann by Jennifer Taylor.