Knut Schoch

The German tenor KNUT SCHOCH studied singing in Hamburg with Wilfried Jochens and Alan Speer, completing his studies by attending various master-classes. His large repertoire extends from medieval works to the premières of contemporary pieces, and includes oratorios, chamber music, Lieder, and Baroque and Classical operas (e.g. by Monteverdi, Keiser, Campra, Mozart etc.). Knut Schoch is specialized in the historical performance practice of music written before 1800, notably Bach´s Passions (in which he sings the role of the Evangelist), Bach´s Cantatas (he took part in a complete recording for Brillant), or the oratorios of Handel and his contemporaries. Knut Schoch is known in the European early music scene as one of the leading young tenors. His concentration on text in this genre gives him the optimal advantage for the classical and romantic song repertoire. Together with the guitarist Carsten Linck he recorded Schubert's "Schöne Müllerin" and early 19th century songs with guitar, and has presented the well-known Schubert song cycles with Eckart Begemann as well as Ludger Rémy on fortepiano. Together with Johannes Debus and Henning Lucius (piano) he has for more than ten years been creating exceptional programmes and has also been greatly inspired through his work with Norman Shetler. Knut Schoch is much in demand as a soloist both at home and abroad, performing all over Europe, in America and Asia, appearing regularly at leading festivals including the Göttingen and Halle Händel Festival, Vienna, Milano, Paris, Copenhagen, Stockholm, Tokyo and the Flandern-Festival. Many radio and television recordings as well as about 100 cds (a.o. with Acanthus, ARS, BrilliantRecords, cpo, capriccio, DeutscheHarmoniaMundi, Naxos, Sony) reflect the range of his activities. He has worked with many well-known ensembles and has appeared with well-known conductors such as Ivor Bolton, Thomas Hengelbrock, Jos van Immerssel, Konrad Junghänel, Ton Koopman, Sigiswald Kuijken, Gustav Leonhardt, and Joshua Rifkin. Among the awards that Knut Schoch has received are the 1995 Masefield Grant from F.V.S. Society and a prize at the 1999 International Musica Antiqua Competition in Brugge/Belgium. Since 1993 Knut Schoch teaches singing and historical performance practice at the Hamburg Conservatory, since 2008 also at the Bremen Musikhochscule. During the period 1999-2002 he taught also as a professor at the Hamburg Musikhochschule. He also teaches in workshops and masterclasses at home and abroad, e.g. in Portugal and in Japan (Tokyo, Kyoto, Osaka).