Aria's Artists Management

Kurt Azesberger - Tenor

Kurt Azesberger received his early musical education as alto soloist at the boys' choir school of the St. Florian monastery in Austria, followed by studies with Hilde Rössel-Majdan, Kurt Equiluz and Peter Schreier.
His international career has taken him to the most important venues, where he has especially made a name for his interpretation of the Evangelist in Bach's Passions which he has performed at the Salzburg Festival, at the Easter Festival Vienna, at the Concertgebouw Amsterdam, in Den Haag, at the Royal Festival Hall London, in Prague, in Vienna's Konzerthaus and Musikverein, in Tel Aviv, Berlin, Milan, Lucerne, Paris and beyond under conductors such as Rafael Frühbeck de Burgos, Franz Welser-Möst, Riccardo Chailly, Michael Gielen and Nikolaus Harnoncourt.

He has sung Klaus Narr in Schönberg's Gurrelieder under Claudio Abbado, Vladimir Fedoseyev and recently under Mariss Jansons in Vienna’s Musikverein. Mönch in Schönberg's Jakobsleiter under Michael Gielen and Kent Nagano, and the tenor part in Beethoven's IX Symphony under Myung Whun Chung and Semyon Bychkov. Concerts with music of the 20th century (Zender's Winterreise, Britten's Serenade for Tenor and Horn and The Prodigal Son, Weill's Propheten from „Der Weg der Verheißung") as well as recitals at such renowned festivals as the Schubertiade Schwarzenberg are an integral part of his musical career.
On the opera stage Kurt Azesberger's main roles are Tito/La Clemenza di Tito(Vienna Volksoper), Aegisth/Elektra (Brucknerhaus Linz under Franz Welser-Möst, Berlin State Opera under Daniel Barenboim) and Hauptmann/Wozzeck (Accademia Santa Cecilia in Rome under Daniele Gatti). He has sung the role of Froh in Wagner's Rheingold in Catania, Walther von der Vogelweide in Tannhäuser at the Accademia di Santa Cecilia in Rome and Narr in Alban Berg's Wozzeck under Claudio Abbado at the Salzburg Easter Festival.

In recent times Kurt Azesberger appears at the Haydn Festival Eisenstadt, sings the St John Passion under Kent Nagano in Berlin and Dortmund, and a new production of Die Zauberflöte under Claudio Abbado with performances in Ferrara, Reggio Emilia, Modena and Baden-Baden - a production that has been released on CD.

The last season was marked by productions like Mozart’s Entführung aus dem Serail at Teatro Massimo in Palermo and in Torino, Zauberflöte with Sir Colin Davis and the London Symphonie in Madrid and concerts on Schumann’s Manfred with Berliner Philarmonikern under Claudio Abbado. The season 2006/07 was heralded by a Zauberflöte production at the Edinburgh Festival also under Claudio Abbado.
A great number of radio and CD recordings bear witness to the wide range of Kurt Azesberger's repertoire: Schmidt's Das Buch mit Sieben Siegeln from Vienna's Musikverein under Horst Stein, Bach's Cantatae Profanae (harmonia mundi) and Keiser's Krösus, both under René Jacobs, Schubert's Lazarus under Helmuth Rilling (Hänssler Classic), Schönberg's Jakobsleiter under Eliahu Inbal (Denon), Françaix's L'Apocalype selon St Jean (Wergo Mainz), Missae Breves by Mozart under Nikolaus Harnoncourt (Teldec) and the Coronation Mass under Leopold Hager (Denon).

2007 started with a tenor part in Beethoven’s IX Symphony with the Brucknerorchester Linz, followed by a concert with the Psalmus Hungaricus by Zoltan Kodaly in Gewandhaus Leipzig. As guest at Linzer Landestheater he sung the Oberon in Henry Purcell’s Fairy Queen. Concerts with Zender’s Winterreise in Madrid, Händel’s Messias in Innsbruck, Haydn’s Schöpfung in Linz, Honegger’s König David in Melk and Beethoven’s Missa Solemnis in Moskow under Fladimir Fedosejev were in program like the part of Hiob in the church opera premiere “Ich, Hiob”, by Thomas Daniel Schlee, at the festival Carinthischer Sommer. Kurt Azesberger was highly praised by the press for this part (singer of the year / Die Presse). Concerts in Lisbon with Friedrich Cerha’s “Bevor es zu spät ist”, according to a text by Thomas Bernhard, and performances of Beethoven’s IX Symphony in Verona let the years end.

Interesting Opera productions in 2008 were the Ägisth in Strauss’ Elektra at Teatro la Fenice in Venice, Mime in Wagner’s Rheingold in Bari and the reuptake of “Ich Hiob” at Carinthische Sommer. Haydn’s Jahreszeiten in Linz, Arnold Schönberg’s Gurrelieder / Klaus Narr at the Beethovenfestival in Warsaw, tenor part in Mendelssohn’s Elias in Innsbruck were also important stations of his concert appearances.

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