Maximilian Schmitt

The tenor Maximilian Schmitt, who was born in Regensburg in 1977, acquired important musical experience early on as a member of the Regensburger Domspatzen. He completed his vocal studies at the Berlin University of the Arts with Anke Eggers; he was subsequently accepted into the Young Ensemble of the Bavarian Staatsoper and mentored for many years by baritone Roland Hermann. From 2008 to 2012, Maximilian Schmitt was a member of the National Theater Mannheim ensemble, where he performed such roles as Mozart’s Tamino, Don Ottavio, Belmonte, and Ferrando; David in Wagner’s Meistersinger; and Lenski in Tchaikovsky’s Eugene Onegin. He made his debut as Tamino at the National Opera Amsterdam in 2012, as Don Ottavio at the Vienna Staatsoper in 2016, and as Pedrillo in Mozart’s The Abduction from the Seraglio at La Scala in Milan in 2017. In the meantime, he has added young heldentenor roles to his repertoire: he sang his first Max in Weber’s Freischütz at the Aalto Theater Essen in 2019, which was followed in 2022 by his role debut as Erik in Wagner’s The Flying Dutchman at Graz Opera. As a concert singer, Maximilian Schmitt performs a broad repertoire ranging from Monteverdi to Britten. He has worked with such conductors as Claudio Abbado, Daniel Harding, Thomas Hengelbrock, Philippe Herreweghe, Jakub Hrůša, René Jacobs, Sir Roger Norrington, Jonathan Nott, Robin Ticciati, Trevor Pinnock, and Franz Welser-Möst. Schmitt also regularly gives recitals, which he presents together with the pianist Gerold Huber: for example, at the Vienna Konzerthaus, the Amsterdam Concertgebouw, Wigmore Hall in London, the Heidelberger Frühling, the Düsseldorf Tonhalle, and the Cologne Philharmonie. His recordings include the Schumann album Träumend wandle ich bei Tag and the project Wie freundlich strahlt der Tag, a collection of German opera arias. He released recordings of Haydn’s The Creation and Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony under Giovanni Antonini in 2020.

Lucerne Festival debut on 5 September 2009 in Mendelssohn’s Die erste Walpurgisnacht under Philippe Herreweghe.

July 2023