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.
He has made numerous recordings, among them Bach Cantatas under Sir
John Eliot Gardiner, Reinhard Goebel, Helmut Rilling and Sigiswald
Kuijken, Strauss’ Ariadne auf Naxos under Giuseppe Sinopoli,
Bach’s Johannes-Passion under Ludwig Güttler,
Mendelssohn’s Lobgesang-Symphonie under Helmut Rilling,
Solo-CDs with arias from Bach cantatas and arias from Handel operas and
oratorios, and CDs with songs by Schubert, Haydn, Mozart and lute songs
from the 17th and 18th century.
The singer appears regularly at prestigious festivals including the
Schubertiade at Hohenems/Feldkirch, the May Festival in Wiesbaden, the
Lucerne Festival, the Schleswig-Holstein Music Festival, the
Aix-en-Provence Festival and the Sviatoslav Richter Festival in Moscow.
He has given recitals at the Alte Oper Frankfurt, the Louvre in Paris,
the Wigmore Hall in London, the Amsterdam Concertgebouw.
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 to 2004 he was an ensemble member of the Hamburg State Opera
where he appeared in numerous lyric tenor roles.
In April 2006 he sang the role of ‘Christ’ in a
production of Mozart’s Die Schuldigkeit des ersten Gebots
under Nicolaus Harnoncourt at the Theater an der Wien. In 2007 he
performed Mendelssohn’s Elijah under Herbert Blomstedt with
the San Francisco Symphony Orchestra, Bach’s Matthew Passion
under Riccardo Chailly with the Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra,
Haydn’s Seasons under Sir Roger Norrington in Boston.
In the season 2007/8 he performed the three Schubert song-cycles in the
Gewandhaus Leipzig.
In 2009 he performed Mendelssohn's Paul with the Gewandhausorchestra
Leipzig under
Helmut Blomstedt as well as in Berlin under Marek Janowski, Bach's Mass
in b-minor
under Kent Nagano in Montreal.
Plans for 2010 include a tour with Bach cantatas together with
Freiburger Barockorchester and Collegium Vocale Gent under Masaaki
Suzuki, Bach cantatas with La Petite
Bande under Sigiswald Kuijken, Bach's St. Matthew Passion in Tokyo
under
Masaaki Suzuki, St. John's Passion under Roberto Minczuk in Calgary,
performances of Haydn's Creation and Bach's Magnificat in Canada under
Kent Nagano.