A Wagner evening with Kirill Petrenko and Jonas Kaufmann

Kirill Petrenko has been chief conductor and artistic director of the Berliner Philharmoniker since the 2019/20 season. Born in Omsk in Siberia, he received his training first in his home town and later in Austria. He established his conducting career in opera with positions at the Meininger Theater and the Komische Oper Berlin. From 2013 to 2020, Kirill Petrenko was general music director of Bayerische Staatsoper. He has also made guest appearances at the world’s leading opera houses, including Wiener Staatsoper, Covent Garden in London, the Opéra national in Paris, the Metropolitan Opera in New York and at the Bayreuth Festival. Moreover, he has conducted the major international symphony orchestras – in Vienna, Munich, Dresden, Paris, Amsterdam, London, Rome, Chicago, Cleveland and Israel. Since his debut in 2006, a variety of programmatic themes have emerged in his work together with the Berliner Philharmoniker. These include work on the orchestra’s core Classical-Romantic repertoire, most notably with Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony when he took up his post. Unjustly forgotten composers such as Josef Suk and Erich Wolfgang Korngold are another of Kirill Petrenko’s interests. Russian works are also highlighted, with performances of Tchaikovsky’s operas Mazeppa, Iolanta and The Queen of Spades attracting particular attention recently.

One of the most prominent musicians in the world of classical music, Jonas Kaufmann is equally at home at the Vienna State Opera, the Metropolitan Opera in New York and the Royal Opera House in London. The versatile singer is just as much in demand in Italian and French repertoire as he is in German: He sang Lohengrin in Bayreuth and at La Scala in Milan, appeared in Massenet's Werther in Paris, Vienna and New York and appeared at the Bavarian State Opera under the direction of Kirill Petrenko as Otello and Tristan. Born in Munich, he has made several guest appearances with the Berliner Philharmoniker since 2003, including as Don José in performances of Bizet's Carmen, conducted by Sir Simon Rattle, and at the 2022 New Year's Eve concert with Kirill Petrenko. In addition to his acclaimed performances in operas and orchestral concerts, Jonas Kaufmann is also an outstanding lieder singer. In 2011, he was invited by the New York Met to give the first solo recital since Luciano Pavarotti. The tenor received his training at the Munich Academy of Music, followed by masterclasses with Hans Hotter, James King and Josef Metternich. Recordings by Jonas Kaufmann, who was appointed "Österreichischer Kammersänger" in 2022, have received numerous awards. He has also been voted "Singer of the Year" several times by specialist magazines such as Opernwelt, Diapason and Musical America.

Emotional intensity with a highly-cultivated sound: Vida Miknevičiūtė thrills audiences internationally with her dramatic soprano. The Lithuanian-born singer, who studied singing at the Academy of Music and Theater in Kaunas and in Leipzig, has made numerous acclaimed debuts in recent years - including at the Salzburg Festival, where she appeared as Chrysothemis in Strauss' Elektra. A short time later, the winner of numerous singing competitions made her debut as Salome at the Vienna State Opera. She sang the same role at the Metropolitan Opera New York, the Bavarian State Opera, Melbourne Opera and again at the Salzburg Festival. The singer also caused a sensation when she made her role debut in Dmitri Tcherniakov's Ring production at the Staatsoper Unter den Linden in the 2022/23 season as a “luminous and lyrical” Sieglinde (rbb Kultur), and was applauded by the audience for several minutes. Vida Miknevičiūtė began her career at the Zurich Opera Studio, and with guest performances at the Festival d'Aix-en-Provence and the Theater Basel. After two years at the opera studio of the Hamburg State Opera, the soprano joined the ensemble at the Staatstheater Mainz from 2011 to 2020, during which time she made guest appearances at the Hamburg State Opera, the Stuttgart State Opera and the Latvian National Opera in Riga, among others.

Georg Zeppenfeld has been a permanent fixture at the Bayreuth Festival for many years, with engagements also taking him to the opera houses of London, Chicago, New York, Vienna and Milan. Originally, the singer from Attendorn in Westphalia had planned to become a teacher of music and German, and even after his decision to train as a singer, the idea of an international career remained unimaginable for him: "My thought was more: if I'm lucky and everything goes well with my voice, then I'll make it into the ensemble of a medium-sized opera house." Georg Zeppenfeld completed his studies at the music academies in Detmold and Cologne, including under Hans Sotin. After his first engagements, the bass joined the ensemble of the Saxon State Opera in Dresden between 2001 and 2005; he has been closely associated with the house ever since, winning the Semperoper Foundation and being appointed Saxon Chamber Singer in 2015. Since his Bayreuth debut, he has appeared as Gurnemanz (Parsifal), King Marke (Tristan und Isolde), King Henry (Lohengrin), Hunding (Die Walküre) and Daland (Der fliegende Holländer) in Wagner’s opera house. In addition to major Wagnerian figures, his repertoire includes roles such as Sarastro (The Magic Flute), King Filippo (Don Carlo), Sparafucile (Rigoletto), Rocco (Fidelio) and many others.

Born in Dessau, Tobias Kehrer studied at the Berlin University of the Arts. He has been a member of the ensemble of the Deutsche Oper Berlin since the 2012/13 season. His roles have included the Commendatore (Don Giovanni), Sarastro (Die Zauberflöte) and Sparafucile (Rigoletto). He is an acclaimed Wagner interpreter, appearing in roles including Fafner (Das Rheingold), Hunding (Die Walküre), Titurel (Parsifal) and Daland (Der fliegende Holländer). 

In addition to his engagement in Berlin, Tobias Kehrer is also in demand internationally. He has sung at the Metropolitan Opera in New York, the Lyric Opera in Chicago, the Opéra national de Paris and the Teatro alla Scala di Milano under the direction of, among others,Zubin Mehta, Daniel Harding and Daniele Gatti. 

He has also appeared at festivals such as the Glyndebourne Festival and the Salzburg Festival. In 2018, he made his debut at the Bayreuth Festival, where he has since appeared as Hunding, Titurel and the Nightwatchman (Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg).

Tobias Kehrer makes his debut with the Berliner Philharmoniker with these concerts.