Siegfried Jerusalem
Siegfried Jerusalem was born on April 17, 1940 in Oberhausen. From 1955-1960, he studied music at Folkwangschule in Essen (bassoon, piano and violin). From 1961-1977, he was a bassoonist in various orchestras; his last engagement was with the Rundfunk Symphony Orchestra Stuttgart.
He began taking singing lessons in 1971 with Hertha Kalcher in Stuttgart.
In 1975 he stood in for Franco Bonisolli for a television production of "Der Zigeunerbaron", after which his singing career really took off.
Jerusalem was awarded guest contracts by countless German opera houses, including Darmstadt, Aachen, Hamburg, Stuttgart, and Zurich, Switzerland. Here is where he first performed Richard Wagner's "Lohengrin".
He made his debut at the Bayreuth Festival in 1977 as "Froh" in Rheingold and the young sailor in Tristan and Isolde. Since then he has been a permanent member of the Festival.
He first performed at the Deutsche Oper in Berlin in 1978 as Tamino in "The Magic Flute".
Further engagements took him to Vienna, the Metropolitan Opera New York, New Orleans, Milan's Scala, Paris, London, Cologne, Geneva, Chicago, San Francisco, San Diego, Toronto, Washington and other venues.
Siegfried Jerusalem produced countless recordings, including "Violanta", "Schwanda, der Dudelsackpfeifer" and the "Ring des Nibelungen", winning a coveted Grammy award for all of them. His album of orchestra songs by Strauss was chosen as record of the month in the United States.
At the 1988 Bayreuth Festival, Siegfried Jerusalem made his debut as the young Siegfried in "Ring des Nibelungen". Nearly all critics lauded his debut as sensational.
In 1989, Jerusalem took on the role of Siegfried in "Götterdämmerung" and was able to repeat his success of the previous year.
1990 was Siegfried Jerusalem's most successful year at the Metropolitan Opera in New York. He sang in the "Ring" cycle, in the role of Loge in "Rheingold" and both Siegfrieds (Siegfried and Götterdämmerung). This "Ring" was recorded for television and 55 million people viewed it in the United States. For his production of Loge on the DG recording, he was awarded the prestigious Grammy in 1991.
From this point on, Jerusalem began to focus more on Lieder. He produced a total of three Lieder recordings:
Richard Strauss: Orchestra Lieder (Masur/Gewandhausorchester)
Gustav Mahler: Rückert-Lieder from "Des Knaben Wunderhorn" and others
Robert Schumann: Dichterliebe und Liederkreis op. 48
For Jerusalem, the 92/93 season was a high time in Vienna. In the new "Ring" production there, he received great acclaim singing the roles of Loge and both Siegfrieds. He was also awarded the "Der liebe Augustin" distinction and the title of Kammersänger by the Austrian President.
He made his debut as Tristan at the opening of the 1993 Bayreuth Festival. This was a huge personal success for him, ensuring him the role of Tristan at all the major opera houses for years to come.
The next decisive year for Siegfried Jerusalem was 1996. It marked 20 years - without interruption - as a heroic tenor at the Bayreuth Festival! No other singer in the great Wagner tenor roles had ever before achieved this. Simultaneously, Jerusalem branched out into a crossover field with "The Glory of Love", a completely different kind of CD - a homage to love!
In October 1996, he won the "Bambi", Germany's most popular award, in the classical music category.
German President Roman Herzog presented him with the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany, in Bellevue Castle on October 9, 1997.
Siegfried Jerusalem sang for the last time in Bayreuth in summer 1999. He had first appeared there 22 years previously as the young sailor in "Tristan and Isolde" and he bowed out with the lead role of Tristan.
Siegfried Jerusalem has since embraced new tasks. On October 1, 2000, he took on a professorship at the new College of Music in Nuremberg. He has been the first Director of this new college since October 1, 2001. With great commitment, he now devotes himself to training young people and developing the young music college.
Yet Siegfried Jerusalem has not given up singing, only changed focus. In 2001-2004, he will appear in New York, London, Munich, Berlin and Vienna in the operas "Salome" and "Elektra". He will also continue to perform Lieder evenings.
