Matthias Goerne
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Matthias Goerne (born 31 March 1967<ref name="Oxford Reference">Template:Cite 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">Template:Cite web</ref> while the Boston Globe describes him as "one of the greatest singers performing today".<ref name="Boston Globe">Template:Cite web</ref>
Prominent opera stages on which Goerne has appeared include the Royal Opera House in London, Teatro Real in Madrid, Paris National Opera, Vienna State Opera, and the Metropolitan Opera in New York City.<ref name="Münchner Philharmoniker">Template:Cite web</ref> His carefully chosen roles include Wagner's Wolfram in Tannhäuser, Amfortas in Parsifal, and Kurwenal in Tristan und Isolde, Orest in Elektra by Richard Strauss and the title roles in Alban Berg's Wozzeck, Bartók's Bluebeard's Castle, Hindemith's Mathis der Maler and Reimann's Lear.
In lieder recitals, he has worked with 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 was a dramaturge and director at several play theaters in Dresden.<ref name="Home Theater Hifi Interview">Template:Cite web</ref> His first instrument was the cello, but he soon switched to singing.<ref name="Moscow Philharmonic Society Interview">Template:Cite web</ref> At the age of 9 he determined to become a professional singer.<ref name="Home Theater Hifi Interview" /> He sang in the children's choirs of several of his father's theatre productions, including Carmen and La Bohème.<ref name="Limelight Interview">Template:Cite 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">Template:Cite 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 took singing lessons from Fischer-Dieskau for three years<ref name="Home Theater Hifi Interview" /> and then from Elisabeth Schwarzkopf for two years.<ref name="Home Theater Hifi Interview" />
Career
1990s
Goerne made his professional debut in Leipzig in 1990, invited by Kurt Masur to sing in Bach's St. Matthew Passion.<ref name="sfvc" /> He made his debut at the Salzburg Festival in 1997 as Papageno in Mozart's Die Zauberflöte.<ref name="Festspiele">Template:Cite 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">Template:Cite web</ref> In 2001, he was appointed an honorary member of the Royal Academy of Music in London.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
2010s
From the late 2000s to 2014, Goerne recorded a selection of Schubert lieder, The Goerne/Schubert Edition, on 12 CDs, for Harmonia Mundi. The final volume was published in December 2014 and 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">Template:Cite web</ref>
He toured in the 2011/12 season with the Vienna Philharmonic with appearances at the Vienna State Opera and the Saito Kinen Festival, performing the title role of Bartók's Bluebeard's Castle conducted by Seiji Ozawa. He gave lieder recitals with Christoph Eschenbach and Leif Ove Andsnes in Paris, Vienna and at New York's Carnegie Hall.
From 2012 to 2013, Goerne appeared as Wolfram in Wagner's Tannhäuser at the Bavarian State Opera and as Amfortas in Wagner's Parsifal in a concert performance at the Teatro Real in Madrid.<ref name="Laurson 2014">Template:Cite 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">Template:Cite web</ref>
In 2021, German composer Detlev Glanert composed a setting for voice and orchestra of Eichendorff poem "Der Einsiedler" (The hermit) especially for Goerne,<ref name="Preludium">Template:Cite web</ref> who performed it with the Concertgebouworkest conducted by Jaap van Zweden to critical acclaim.<ref name="Volkskrant">Template:Cite web</ref>
Personal life
Goerne adopted a son<ref name="Financial Times">Template:Cite web</ref> who was 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 was said to have smoked cigarettes "a lot" early in life, but later 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">Template:Cite 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 become "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 formers' superior artistic vision and technical proficiency.<ref name="Van Magazine">Template:Cite web</ref>
Awards and honors
Goerne is a recipient of the Wigmore Hall, London, medal.<ref name="Tagesspiegel 2007">Template:Cite web</ref>
| Year | Award | Result |
|---|---|---|
| 1999 | Grammy Awards | Nominated <ref name="Grammy">Template:Cite web</ref> |
| 2000 | Grammy Awards | Nominated <ref name="Grammy" /> |
| 2001 | Grammy Awards | Nominated <ref name="Grammy" /> |
| 2013 | Edison Vocal Soloist Award | Won <ref name="Edison 2013">Template:Cite web</ref> |
| 2014 | BBC Music Magazine Vocal Award | Nominated <ref name="BBC 2014">Template:Cite web</ref> |
| 2014 | Diapason d'Or | Won <ref name="Diapason 2014" /> |
| 2014 | ICMA Awards | Won <ref name="ICMA 2014">Template:Cite web</ref> |
| 2017 | BBC Music Magazine Vocal Award | Won <ref name="BBC 2017">Template:Cite web</ref> |
| 2017 | Gramophone Solo Vocal Award | Won <ref name="Gramophone 2017">Template:Cite web</ref> |
| 2017 | ECHO Klassik Male Singer | Won <ref name="Echo 2017">Template:Cite web</ref> |
| 2020 | Edison Vocal Soloist Award | Won <ref name="Edison 2020">Template:Cite web</ref> |
| 2020 | Diapason d'Or | Won <ref name="Diapason 2020">Template:Cite web</ref> |
| 2020 | Grammy Awards | Nominated <ref name="Grammy" /> |