Matthias Goerne

Matthias Goerne (born 31 March 1967<ref name="Oxford Reference">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>) is a German baritone. He has performed and recorded extensively, both on the opera stage and in Lieder settings. Goerne has been referred to as "Today's leading interpreter of German art songs" by the Chicago Tribune,<ref name="Chicago Tribune">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> while the Boston Globe describes him as "one of the greatest singers performing today".<ref name="Boston Globe">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

Prominent opera stages on which Goerne has appeared include the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden; Teatro Real, Madrid; Paris National Opera; Vienna State Opera; and the Metropolitan Opera, New York.<ref name="Münchner Philharmoniker">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> His carefully chosen roles range from Wolfram (Tannhäuser), Amfortas (Parsifal), Kurwenal (Tristan) and Orest (Electra) right up to the title roles in Alban Berg's Wozzeck, Bartók's Bluebeard's Castle, Hindemith's Mathis der Maler and Reimann's Lear.

In Lieder settings, he has worked with many pre-eminent pianists, including Alfred Brendel, Vladimir Ashkenazy, Daniil Trifonov and Seong-Jin Cho.

Biography

Early life and education

Goerne was born in Weimar.<ref name="Festspiele 2022" /> He grew up in a musical environment, his father being a dramaturgist and director of several acting theaters in Dresden.<ref name="Home Theater Hifi Interview">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> His first instrument was the cello, but he soon switched to singing.<ref name="Moscow Philharmonic Society Interview">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> At the age of 9 he determined that he wanted to become a professional singer.<ref name="Home Theater Hifi Interview" /> He sang in the children's choirs of several of his father's theater productions, including Carmen and La Bohème.<ref name="Limelight Interview">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> From the age of 18 to 22 he studied voice in Leipzig under Template:Ill.<ref name="Home Theater Hifi Interview" /> He would later refer to Beyer as being his most important teacher, and as the one who enabled him to start winning competitions.<ref name="Moscow Philharmonic Society Interview" /> In 1989, he won second prize in the Robert Schumann Competition and first prizes in the Salomon-Lindberg and Hugo Wolf competitions.<ref name="sfvc">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> Two years into his studies, he won a singing competition in West Berlin. The head of the jury, composer and pianist Aribert Reimann, introduced him to Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau, whom Goerne considered his idol and the greatest artist he knew. He was to receive singing lessons from Fischer-Dieskau for 3 years.<ref name="Home Theater Hifi Interview" /> Next, he studied with Elisabeth Schwarzkopf for two and a half to three years.<ref name="Home Theater Hifi Interview" />

Career

1990s

Goerne made his professional début in Leipzig in 1990 after being invited by Kurt Masur to sing in Johann Sebastian Bach's St. Matthew Passion.<ref name="sfvc" />

Goerne made his Salzburg Festival début in 1997 (Papageno).<ref name="Festspiele">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

2000s

From 2001 through 2005, Goerne taught as an honorary professor of song interpretation at the Robert Schumann Hochschule in Düsseldorf.<ref name="Festspiele 2022">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> In 2001, he was appointed an Honorary Member of the Royal Academy of Music in London.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

2010s

In the late 2000s to 2014, he recorded a selection of Schubert lieder, The Goerne/Schubert Edition on 12 CDs, for Harmonia Mundi. The final volume, published in December 2014, received the highest rating in BBC Music magazine and a Diapason d'Or. His recording of Hanns Eisler lieder was awarded a Diapason d'Or de l'Année the same year.<ref name="Diapason 2014">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

Highlights of the 2011/12 season included a tour with the Vienna Philharmonic, appearances at the Vienna State Opera and the Saito Kinen Festival (Bluebeard with Seiji Ozawa) and song recitals with Christoph Eschenbach, and Leif Ove Andsnes in Paris, Vienna and New York (Carnegie Hall).

From 2012 to 2013, Goerne sang Wolfram at the Bavarian State Opera and Amfortas in concert with the Teatro Real in Madrid.<ref name="Laurson 2014">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> Concert highlights included appearances with the Orchestre de Paris (Bluebeard), Berlin Philharmonic (War Requiem), Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra (Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony), Filarmonica del Teatro alla Scala (Mahler Lieder), Israel Philharmonic, and San Francisco Symphony (Wagner arias) as well as song recitals with Pierre-Laurent Aimard and Schubert cycles with Christoph Eschenbach at the Vienna Musikverein.

2020s

In 2020, Goerne signed with Deutsche Grammophon for a trilogy of Lieder albums released in 2020, 2021 and 2022 with pianists Jan Lisiecki, Seong-Jin Cho and Daniil Trifonov, respectively.<ref name="DG">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

In 2021, German composer Detlev Glanert composed a setting for voice and orchestra of the poem Der Einsiedler (the hermit) by Joseph von Eichendorff especially for Goerne.<ref name="Preludium">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> It was performed by Goerne and the Concertgebouworkest under conductor Jaap van Zweden to critical acclaim.<ref name="Volkskrant">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

Personal life

Goerne has an adopted son<ref name="Financial Times">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> born in 1989,<ref name="Home Theater Hifi Interview" /> and a daughter born in 2000.<ref name="Home Theater Hifi Interview" /> His first marriage ended in divorce.<ref name="Home Theater Hifi Interview" />

He smoked cigarettes "a lot" early in life, but stopped after noting the detrimental effects on his voice.<ref name="Moscow Philharmonic Society Interview" />

Goerne is not religious, although he does "have beliefs".<ref name="Musicweb">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

Views on music

Goerne has criticized the modern day relevance of opera productions, going so far as to state that most popular operas should not be performed at all anymore because they have become outdated, no longer having "enough substance for the questions posed by our society".<ref name="Van Magazine" />

He has expressed a distaste for most contemporary art music from a vocal perspective, claiming that its focus on using the extremes of the voice, "singing very high or very low, very loud or very quietly", is not conducive to the expression of thoughts and feelings. Furthermore, he opines that this style of vocal writing makes pieces "boring and one-dimensional".<ref name="Preludium" />

Goerne has expressed a preference for working with solo pianists over pianists who specialize in accompaniment, citing the former's superior artistic vision and the latter's relative lack of technical proficiency.<ref name="Van Magazine">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

Awards and honors

Goerne is a recipient of the Wigmore Hall, London, medal.<ref name="Tagesspiegel 2007">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

Year	Award	Result
1999	Grammy Awards	citation	CitationClass=web }}</ref>
2000	Grammy Awards	Nominated <ref name="Grammy" />
2001	Grammy Awards	Nominated <ref name="Grammy" />
2013	Edison Vocal Soloist Award	citation	CitationClass=web }}</ref>
2014	BBC Music Magazine Vocal Award	citation	CitationClass=web }}</ref>
2014	Diapason d'Or	Won <ref name="Diapason 2014" />
2014	ICMA Awards	citation	CitationClass=web }}</ref>
2017	BBC Music Magazine Vocal Award	citation	CitationClass=web }}</ref>
2017	Gramophone Solo Vocal Award	citation	CitationClass=web }}</ref>
2017	ECHO Klassik Male Singer	citation	CitationClass=web }}</ref>
2020	Edison Vocal Soloist Award	citation	CitationClass=web }}</ref>
2020	Diapason d'Or	citation	CitationClass=web }}</ref>
2020	Grammy Awards	Nominated <ref name="Grammy" />

Further reading

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External links

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