Thomas Quasthoff facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
Thomas Quasthoff
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Quasthoff, 2010
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| Born | 9 November 1959 (age 65) Hildesheim, Germany
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| Occupation | Bass-baritone |
Thomas Quasthoff (born November 9, 1959) is a famous German singer. He sings with a deep voice called a bass-baritone. He enjoys singing many types of music, from classical songs (like cantatas and lieder) to jazz. Thomas was born with some physical challenges because his mother took a medicine called thalidomide during pregnancy. This caused him to be 1.34 meters (about 4 feet 5 inches) tall and have phocomelia, which means his arms and legs are shorter than usual.
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Early Life and His Start in Music
Thomas Quasthoff was born in Hildesheim, Germany, with serious physical differences. When he wanted to study music at the Hochschule für Musik, Theater und Medien Hannover, he was not accepted. This was not because he lacked singing talent, but because he could not play the piano due to his physical condition.
Instead, Thomas decided to study singing privately with a teacher. He also studied law for three years. Before becoming a full-time musician, he worked for six years as a radio announcer for NDR. He also did voice-over work for television shows.
Thomas Quasthoff's Singing Career
Thomas Quasthoff's singing career really began in 1988. He won a big music competition called the ARD International Music Competition in Munich. A famous singer named Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau praised his performance. People loved how he sang lieder (German art songs) because he paid attention to every detail. They also admired his wide vocal range and the beautiful colors in his voice.
In 1995, Thomas sang for the first time in America at the Oregon Bach Festival. He was invited by the festival's director, Helmuth Rilling. In 1998, he was a soloist in a special performance of Penderecki's Credo. The recording of this performance later won a Grammy Award, which is a very important music prize.
In 2003, Thomas made his first appearance in an opera on stage. He played Don Fernando in Beethoven's Fidelio at the Salzburg Festival. A famous conductor named Simon Rattle led the performance. In 2004, he sang the role of Amfortas in the opera Parsifal with the Vienna State Opera.
Thomas Quasthoff recorded many albums with Deutsche Grammophon (DG), a well-known record company. Besides classical music, he also released his first jazz album in 2007. It was called The Jazz Album: Watch What Happens. He worked with talented jazz musicians like Till Brönner and Peter Erskine on this album.
In 2006 and 2007, Thomas was a special "Perspectives" artist at Carnegie Hall in New York. This meant he was supposed to perform several times. However, he had to cancel some shows because he was ill.
As an artist-in-residence at the Barbican Hall in London, Thomas invited other favorite artists to perform with him. This series of concerts was called Die Stimme (The Voice), which is also the name of his autobiography. This series celebrated his 50th birthday. In 2009, he was a guest on the popular BBC Radio 4 show Desert Island Discs.
In January 2012, Thomas Quasthoff announced that he was stopping public performances. He mentioned being ill, the difficulties of touring, and the sad death of his brother from lung cancer as reasons.
However, he later returned to performing! In 2016, he appeared in concerts, including as the speaker in Schoenberg's Gurre-Lieder. He also performed as Feste in the play Twelfth Night. He has also performed with his jazz quartet and had a speaking role in an opera at the Edinburgh International Festival in 2021.
Thomas Quasthoff is also a respected voice professor. He used to teach at the Hochschule für Musik Detmold in Germany. Now, he is a professor at the Hanns Eisler School of Music in Berlin. He also helped create Das Lied, an international song competition that started in 2009.
Awards and Honors
Thomas Quasthoff has won three Grammy Awards, which are among the highest honors in music.
- In 2000, he won the Grammy Award for Best Classical Vocal Performance. This was for his recording of Mahler's Des Knaben Wunderhorn with Anne Sofie von Otter and the Berlin Philharmonic.
- In 2004, he won his second Grammy for Best Classical Vocal Performance. This time it was for Schubert: Lieder with Orchestra, which he performed with Anne Sofie von Otter and the Chamber Orchestra of Europe.
- In 2006, he won his third Grammy for Best Classical Vocal Performance. This was for his recording of J. S. Bach's Cantatas with the Berlin Baroque Soloists.
- In 2008, he was a soloist on another Grammy-winning recording of Brahms's Ein Deutsches Requiem.
Besides Grammys, Thomas Quasthoff has received other important awards:
- In 2005, he received Germany's Great Cross of Merit, a high honor from his home country.
- In 2009, he was given the Herbert von Karajan Music Prize.
- In the same year, the Royal Philharmonic Society awarded him a gold medal for his amazing musical talent.
Personal Life
In 2006, Thomas Quasthoff married Claudia Stelzig, who is a German TV journalist.
See also
In Spanish: Thomas Quasthoff para niños
