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.
The Story
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.
