Biography
The repertoire of Dietrich Henschel, a regular guest of major opera houses, a valued interpreter of songs and oratorios and the initiator and protagonist of numerous multimedia projects, ranges from Monteverdi to works of the 21st century. His career took off in 1997 when he performed the title role in Busoni's opera Doctor Faust under the baton of Kent Nagano. The production was a co-production of the Lyon Opera and the Théâtre du Châtelet in Paris and opened the way for Henschel to the opera houses of Zurich, Geneva, Amsterdam and the Komische Opera in Berlin. His operatic repertoire only underlines the breadth of his artistic range: Wolfram in Tannhäuser, Don Giovanni, Woyzeck, Dr. Schön in Lulu, Golaud in Pelléas et Mélisande and Nick Shadow in The Rake's Progress. Dietrich Henschel has also appeared in many world premieres of works by contemporary composers such as Pèter Éötvös, Detlev Glanert, Manfred Trojahn and Peter Ruzicka. The singer has made a number of award-winning recordings with John Elliot Gardiner, Paul Herreweghe, Nicolaus Harnoncourt and Sir Collin Davis. His major success was the project IRRSAL - a triptych of forbidden love in collaboration with director Clara Pons, which combined the orchestral songs of Hugo Wolf with a film created specifically for the needs of live performance. The project has been performed at La Monnaie in Brussels, Theater an der Wien, the Norwegian National Opera and the Komische Opera in Berlin, among others. Equally successful was the international project Wunderhorn, which involved eight partner institutions, including the BBC Symphony Orchestra in London.
Photo: Susanne Diesner