Milestones of a Career

Thomas_Quasthoff_Meilensteine

A Voice Conquers the World

Thomas Quasthoff receives the highest awards for his extraordinary skills:

In 1988 Thomas Quasthoff won the first prize in the ARD International Music Competition. Since then he has received many special prizes and several classic awards, such as the Shostakovitch Award in Moscow in 1996, the order of the Federal Republic of Germany in 2005 and the highest possible international distinction for an artist: the Grammy Award, which he has won three times. In 2009 Thomas Quasthoff was also awarded the Herbert-von-Karajan Prize in Baden-Baden and the honorary title of Singer of Excellence in Vienna.

Since 1999 he has had an exclusive contract with Deutsche Grammophon; amongst many other highlights this label produced a jazz album featuring Thomas Quasthoff and Till Brönner.

As well as receiving awards and performing at all the greatest venues in the world such as the Carnegie Hall in New York and La Scala in Milan, the Wigmore Hall in London, the Musikverein in Vienna or at the Salzburg Festival, for many years Thomas Quasthoff has worked with famous conductors such as Sir Simon Rattle, Claudio Abbado, Daniel Barenboim, Mariss Janssons and Riccardo Muti.

The Milestones in Detail

Years of distinction

“And the Grammy goes to…”

2010

  • November: Ceremony of the Praetorius-Musicprize in Hannover – the highest award of Lower Saxony, Thomas Quasthoff’s home State in Germany
  • September: After the best-selling Jazzalbum “Watch What Happens” (2007) Thomas Quasthoff’s new CD “Tell It Like It Is” is being released with favourite songs from soul legends, pop stars and heros from the blues area (The German press release announcing the CD’s publication in September 2010 can be found in this PDF document)
  • Artist in Residence at the Festspielhaus Baden-Baden and Laeiszhalle Hamburg for the 2009/2010 season

2009

  • Awarded the honorary title of Singer of Excellence (KS) in Vienna (Eulogy by KS Brigitte Fassbaender shortened version can be found in the following PDF document)
  • Herbert von Karajan Prize, Festspielhaus Baden-Baden
  • Haydn arias with the New York Philharmonic conducted by Riccardo Muti in New York
  • Artist in Residence at the Barbican Centre London
  • Gold Medal from the Royal Philharmonic Society in London

2008

  • Haydn’s “The Creation” with the Berlin Philharmonic at the Salzburg Easter Festival orchestrated Schubert songs with the Concertgebouw Orkest and Mariss Janssons
  • Verdi Requiem with the Vienna Philharmonic and Riccardo Muti

2007

  • Jazz  concerts with Till Brönner at the Carnegie Hall New York, the Musikverein Vienna, the Cologne Philharmonic and the Admiralspalast in Berlin

2005

  • Further performance of “Parsifal” at the Vienna State Opera under the direction of Sir Simon Rattle
  • Artist in Residence at the Musikverein Vienna and the Concertgebouw Amsterdam, Artiste Étoile at the Lucerne Festival, summer 2005
  • Awarded Order of the Federal Republic of Germany (Bundesverdienstkreuz)

2004

  • Debut at the Vienna State Opera as “Amfortas” in Wagner’s “Parsifal” under the direction of Donald Runnicles and first song recital at the Salzburg Festival
  • Became Professor of Singing at the Hanns Eisler Academy of Music in Berlin
  • Bach cantatas with the Berlin Baroque Soloists  (Midem Classical Award 2005, Classic Amadeus Prize 2005, Grammy Award 2006, DG)

2003

  • First operatic performance as  “Don Fernando” in Beethoven’s “Fidelio” with the Berlin Philharmonic under the direction of Sir Simon Rattle in Berlin and at the Salzburg Easter Festival
  • CD publication: Schubert songs with the orchestration of famous composers with Anne Sofie von Otter, Claudio Abbado and the Chamber Orchestra of Europe (Grammy Award 2004, DG)

2002

  • Schumann’s “Scenes from Goethe’s Faust” with the Berlin Philharmonic under the direction of Claudio Abbado and Bach’s “St. John Passion” under the direction of Sir Simon Rattle

2000

  • Memorial concert, Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony with the Vienna Philharmonic and Sir Simon Rattle among others at the concentration camp at Mauthausen (Austria)

1999

  • First appearance at the Ravinia und Tanglewood Festivals and at the Mostly Mozart Festival with Christoph Eschenbach on the piano
  • Debut at the Carnegie Hall in New York in Benjamin Britten’s “War Requiem” with the Boston Symphony Orchestra under the direction of Seiji Ozawa
  • Exclusive contract with Deutsche Grammophon (DG); first publication: Mahler’s songs from “des Knaben Wunderhorn” with Anne Sofie von Otter and the Berlin Philharmonic under the direction of Claudio Abbado (Grammy Award 2000)

1998

  • First cooperation with the Vienna Philharmonic under the direction of Helmuth Rilling at the Vienna Musikverein

1997

  • First concert performances with Sir Simon Rattle (Haydn’s “The Creation” with the  Berlin Philharmonic)

1996

  • Shostakovitch Award in Moscow and the Hamada Trust/Scotsman Festival Prize at the Edinburgh International Festival
  • Became Professor for Singing at the Detmold Academy of Music (Nordrhein-Westfalen)

1995

  • Debut at the Oregon Bach Festival, USA under the direction of Helmuth Rilling

1993

  • Debut at the Vienna Musikverein with Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony under the direction of Isaac Karabtchevsky

1989

  • Publication of the first CD of song recordings, featuring Loewe ballads with Norman Shetler on the piano (EMI)

1988

  • Awarded first prize at the ARD International Music Competition in Munich