Singer
10 July 1969, Munich, Germany
Jonas Kaufmann made his Salzburg Festival debut in a minor student role in 1999 and spent the next two decades growing into the tenor the Festival chooses when it wants the occasion to feel significant. His 2023 Tannhauser under Christian Thielemann and his 2024 La Gioconda opposite Anna Netrebko are the kind of appearances that define a festival season.
Jonas Kaufmann first appeared at the Salzburg Festival in 1999, in Busoni’s Doktor Faust, taking one of the five student roles in the Wittenberg scene. It was a modest debut for someone who would become the Festival’s most consistently significant tenor over the next quarter century. He returned in 2003 and kept returning, building a Salzburg career across Verdi, Puccini, Mozart, and Wagner.
His Ferrando in Cosi fan tutte showed the lyrical intelligence that marked his early career. His Cavaradossi in Tosca demonstrated the dramatic intensity that distinguished him from lighter tenors. His Tannhauser at the 2023 Easter Festival, conducted by Christian Thielemann with Marlis Petersen as Elisabeth, was greeted as a milestone in his Wagner repertoire. He is not simply a powerful voice: critics consistently note the intelligence behind the singing, the way he shapes text and manages colour across a wide dynamic range.
In 2024 he starred alongside Anna Netrebko in Ponchielli’s La Gioconda at the Easter Festival, conducted by Antonio Pappano. Director Oliver Mears stripped the melodrama from the work and built a psychological thriller in its place. The Salzburg production was broadcast on ORF. Kaufmann also appeared in Cecilia Bartoli’s 2021 Whitsun Festival program, performing Handel’s Il Trionfo del Tempo e del Disinganno. Away from opera he sings Schubert and Mahler lieder with equal seriousness. He became Artistic Director of the Tyrolean Festival Erl in September 2024.
On the map
The 2 places on this page, where they actually stand.
Locations
Built 1693
The Felsenreitschule is a theater carved directly into the Moenchsberg cliff face, which means the backstage wall is living rock and three tiers of 17th-century arcades form the auditorium. It was originally built in 1693 as a summer riding school for the Archbishop's horses.
Completed 1960
The Grosses Festspielhaus (Large Festival Hall) opened in 1960 as a major expansion of Salzburg's Festspielhaus complex, carved in large part from the Moenchsberg cliff face to achieve its 2,179-seat auditorium. Architect Clemens Holzmeister cut the main stage directly into the rock, creating one of the widest stages in the world at 100 meters.
Organizations
One of the world's most prestigious performing arts festivals. Held annually late July to end of August. Founded 1920 by Hugo von Hofmannsthal, Max Reinhardt, Richard Strauss, Franz Schalk, and Alfred Roller. Inaugural event: Jedermann on Domplatz. Herbert von Karajan defined the postwar era. Opera, drama, concerts.
