The Erfurt-born tenor Christoph
Genz received his first musical training as a member of the St.
Thomas’ Boys Choir in Leipzig. He continued his studies in
musicology at King’s College Cambridge where he was also a
member of King’s College Choir.
He studied voice under Hans-Joachim Beyer at the Hoschule für
Musik und Theater in Leipzig and with Elisabeth Schwarzkopf.
He won first prize at the International Singing Competition in Grimsby,
England and the first prize at the International J.S.Bach-Competition
in Leipzig.
Christoph Genz has been engaged for concerts, recitals and opera
productions in Europe, Asia and the USA collaborating with such
distinguished conductors as Herbert Blomstedt, Giuseppe Sinopoli,
Riccardo Chailly, Sir Simon Rattle, Kurt Masur, Nicolaus Harnoncourt,
Sir John Eliot Gardiner, Sir Roger Norrington, Ton Koopmann, Ingo
Metzmacher, Marek Janowski, Markus Stenz, Ludwig Güttler,
Daniel Harding, Ivor Bolton, Frans Bruggen, Marcus Creed, Thomas
Hengelbrock, Helmut Rilling, Jesus Lopez-Coboz, Sigiswald Kuijken,
Michail Jurowski, Peter Schreier, Masaaki Suzuki, Kent Nagano
His discography contains more than 50 CD and DVD recordings of operas,
oratorios, songs and arias.
He has given recitals at the Alte Oper Frankfurt, the Louvre in Paris,
the Wigmore Hall in London, the Amsterdam Concertgebouw, Schubertiade
Hohenems/Feldkirch, Verbier, Davos, Luzern,
Schleswig-Holstein-Musikfestival, Svatoslav-Richter-Festival Moskau.
Christoph Genz was a member of the ensemble of the Basel Theater during
the 1997/98 season. Guest engagements followed, among them Opera de
Nancy (Ferrando in Cosi fan tutte), Theatre des Champs-Elysee, Paris
(Tamino in Die Zauberflöte), Opera de Lausanne, Teatro alla
Scala (under Giuseppe Sinopoli), Semperoper Dresden (Ferrando,
Belmonte), La Coruna (Tamino), and the opera houses in Leipzig, Cologne
and Wiesbaden.
From 2001/2 to 2004/5 he was an ensemble member of the Hamburg State
Opera where he appeared in numerous lyric tenor roles.
Highlights in 2011 were a tour with Bach's St.John's Passion under
Sigiswald Kuijken, Bach cantatas together with the Bach Collegium Japan
under Masaaki Suzuki, St.John's Passion in Montreal under Kent Nagano,
Mozart's 'Zaide' in Los Angeles, a staged production of Haendel's 'Acis
and Galatea', staged performances of Schubert songs in Stuttgart,
recitals in Barcelona and Paris as well as the return to the Hamburg
State Opera with Bach's Christmas Oratorio in a production for ballet
by John Neumeier.
Plans for 2012 include a tour with Thomanerchor
Leipzig/Gewandhausorchestra to South Korea, Japan and England (Matthew
Passion), a tour with La Petite Bande/Sigiswald Kuijken (Matthew
Passion), an opera production at the Schwetzingen Festival as well as
concerts and recitals at Musikverein Vienna, Leipzig Gewandhaus and
Cologne, Paris, Amsterdam.