bass
René Pape, one of the leading international basses, received his musical education in his native city of Dresden. He made his debut while still a student in 1988 at the Berlin State Opera and has been a member of this company ever since. There, he has performed the main roles of his repertoire, such as Rocco, König Marke, König Heinrich, Pogner, Fasolt, Hunding, Sarastro, Figaro, Leporello and Don Giovanni all in new productions conducted by Daniel Barenboim. He also sang Ramphis under Zubin Mehta, Philipp II. (Don Carlos) and in new productions of Gurnemanz (Parsifal) and the title role of Boris Godunov conducted by Daniel Barenboim. He has appeared at all the major opera houses in Europe, Japan (tours with the Metropolitan New York and Berlin State Opera) and the USA. At the Metropolitan Opera under James Levine he has appeared as König Marke (Tristan und Isolde), Rocco (Fidelio), Leporello (Don Giovanni), Mephisto (Faust). Under Valerij Gergiev he sang his first Gurnemanz (Parsifal). He has appeared at the Lyric Opera of Chicago, San Francisco Opera, Los Angeles Opera as well as at the Bayreuth, Glyndebourne, Lucerne, St. Petersburg („White Nights Festival“) and Salzburg. Equally at home on the concert platform, René Pape has appeared as a lied recitalist and as a soloist with the major symphony orchestras in all prestigious concert halls all over the world, such as in Tokyo, Madrid, London, Florence (Maggio Musicale), Rome, New York (New York Philharmonic under Sir Colin Davis, Lorin Maazel and Kurt Masur, Chicago (with the Chicago Symphony under Sir Georg Solti and Daniel Barenboim), Paris (Orchestre de Paris, Daniel Barenboim and Semyon Bychkov). He has made recordings and DVD-s among others on the BMG, EMI, DGG, TELDEC labels under conductors such as Daniel Barenboim, Sir Colin Davis, James Levine, Sir Georg Solti, Antonio Pappano. He has won two Grammy Awards and is Vocalist of the Year 2002 of the magazin "Musical America".
