Siegfried Jerusalem

Siegfried Jerusalem (born Oberhausen, 17 April 1940) is a German operatic tenor. Closely identified with the heldentenor roles of Wagner, he has performed Siegfried, Siegmund, Lohengrin, Parsifal and Tristan to wide acclaim. Since the 1990s, he has focused on lieder, particularly those by Strauss, Mahler and Schumann.

He studied piano, violin and bassoon at the Folkwangschule in Essen. In 1975 he was in the orchestra of a television production of Der Zigeunerbaron. The tenor Franco Bonisolli backed out of the production at the last minute, and Jerusalem stood in. From here on, he made singing his career.

He first appeared at the Bayreuth Festival in 1976 as Froh ("Das Rheingold"), and later appeared as Siegfried in 1988 ("Siegfried") and 1989 ("Götterdämmerung"). In 1990 he appeared at the Metropolitan Opera with James Levine, singing both Siegfrieds, as well as the difficult role of Loge. The production was televised, and is available on DVD. In 1993 he debuted as Tristan at the Bayreuth Festival, and took the role to most of the major houses in Europe.

On October 9 1997 he was presented with the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany by the German president Roman Herzog. His last performance at Bayreuth was in 1999 as Tristan. He currently teaches at the College of Music in Nuremberg.

Recordings

Jerusalem performs in a series of audio and video recordings of Wagner operas conducted by James Levine at the Met, Daniel Barenboim and Pierre Boulez at Bayreuth, and others made in the 1980s and 1990s.

Jerusalem has also made an attempt at some crossover music in two recordings 'The glory of Love' and 'Avalon'

External links

* [http://www.unitel.de/uhilites/150401.htm Interview with Jerusalem on his 61st birthday]
* [http://www-users.york.ac.uk/~cqb100/Siegfried%20Jerusalem.htm The best of Siegfried Jerusalem]