ARTIST PROFILE

Thomas Hampson and Craig Rutenberg

BIOGRAPHY

To tell stories of the human existence, to bring them to life, to move and touch us, this is what matters most to Thomas Hampson when he appears on stage, and his performances at the world's major concert and opera stages are hailed by audiences and critics alike. Brought up in Spokane, Washington, Thomas Hampson studied with Sr. Marietta Coyle, Elisabeth Schwarzkopf, Martial Singher and Horst Günther. He is renowned for his versatility, performing in opera, operetta, musical, oratorio and recital, as well as his achievements in the fields of recording, research and pedagogy.

Thomas Hampson has sung the title roles in Rossini's "Guillaume Tell", Tchaikovsky's "Eugene Onegin", Massenet's "Werther" in the composer's original baritone version, Busoni's "Doktor Faustus", Ambroise Thomas' "Hamlet", Verdi's "Macbeth" and "Simon Boccanegra", Mozart's "Don Giovanni", as well as the world premiere of Cerha's "Der Riese vom Steinfeld". Other roles include Germont in Verdi's "La Traviata", Wolfram in Wagner's "Tannhäuser", the Marquis de Posa in Verdi's "Don Carlos", Orest in Gluck's "Iphigenie en Tauride", Amfortas in Wagner's "Parsifal", Mandryka in Strauss' "Arabella", and recently Renato in Verdi's "Un Ballo" in Maschera in London's "Covent Garden."

Thomas Hampson is a passionate singer of German Lieder from Franz Schubert, Gustav Mahler, Hugo Wolf to the songs of American poets and composers like Walt Whitman and Aaron Copland. His dedication to American song and its history has resulted in several recital tours, recordings, multimedia projects and television programs.

His passion for Song as the diary of every culture with enormous importance for the genuine understanding of each other, lead him to found the HAMPSONG-Foundation. Its Internet platform www.hampsong.com/foundation networks and documents all the activities and makes them accessible to the public.

Thomas Hampson holds honorary doctorates from the Whitworth College, Spokane, Washington, and the San Francisco Conservatory, and has recently become a Member of the European Academy of Sciences and Arts. He is an honorary member of London's Royal Academy of Music and bears the titles of Kammersänger of the Vienna State Opera as well as Chevalier de l'ordre des arts et des letters by the Republic of France. He was awarded the Austrian Medal of Honor in Arts and Sciences in 2004 and in 2005 he has received the Netherlands's Edison Award for Life Achievement.