BIOGRAPHY
The Swiss-German baritone Simon Schnorr studied singing at the conservatories in Freiburg, Karlsruhe and Leipzig with Professor Markus Goritzki, Professor Roland Hermann and Professor Hans-Joachim Beyer. He received important stimuli for his artistic development whilst a master student of Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau and Margreet Honig. He also attended master classes with Ernst Haefliger, Thomas Hampson, Kiri Te Kanawa, Kurt Widmer and Dmitry Vdovin.
Whilst still a student, Simon Schnorr debuted in numerous roles at the Badisches Staatstheater Karlsruhe, including Donner in Wagner's "Das Rheingold" and Ping in Puccini's "Turandot". He attained broader attention when at short notice he took on the role of Traveller in Britten's "Death in Venice", for which he was highly praised by the audience and the press alike.
After his studies he became a member of the ensemble at the Salzburg Landestheater (2009-16), where he appeared in a number of central roles, including the title roles in Mozart's "Don Giovanni", in Tchaikovsky's "Eugene Onegin" and in Handel's "Imeneo", as well as, among others, as Conte di Almaviva in "Le nozze di Figaro", Guglielmo in "Così fan tutte", Papageno in "Die Zauberflöte", Dandini in "La Cenerentola" and Belcore in "L'elisir d'amore".
He has also made various guest appearances at important opera houses. He performed the title role in Mozart's "Don Giovanni" at the Teatro La Fenice in Venice, where he also appeared in other productions ("Werther", "The Merry Widow" and "Richard III"). He was also invited to the Salzburg Festival ("Lulu"), the Salzburg Easter Festival ("Parsifal"), the Glyndebourne Festival ("Eugene Onegin"), the Hamburg State Opera ("Daphne"), the Teatro dell' Opera di Roma ("The Merry Widow"), the National Centre for the Performing Arts Beijing ("Arias and Ensembles from Mozart's Operas"), and to the festivals in Aix-en-Provence, Edinburgh, St. Margarethen and Verbier. He appeared alongside John Malkovich as Giacomo 2 in his music theatre project "The Giacomo Variations" in Europe and North America.
In addition to his operatic activities, Simon Schnorr established himself as a versatile concert singer. His broad repertoire, ranging from baroque to contemporary, has taken him to numerous European music centres, such as the Elbphilharmonie Hamburg (Bach: "Christmas Oratorio"), the Herkulessaal Munich (Mahler: "Lieder eines fahrenden Gesellen"), the Tonhalle Zurich, the Victoria Hall Geneva (both Brahms: "Ein deutsches Requiem"), the Auditorium in Milan (Bach: "St. John and St. Matthew Passion"), the Konzerthaus Berlin (Bach: "Christmas Oratorio") and the Philharmonie Essen (Orff: "Carmina Burana").
His artistic work is documented in numerous recordings (BR, NDR, SWR, Deutschlandfunk Kultur, arte, ORF, RAI). A live recording of the operetta production "Die Faschingsfee" (cpo) at the Staatstheater am Gärtnerplatz in Munich was included in the German Record Critics' Best List. For the recording "Polychoral Splendour" (audite), with works by Heinrich Schütz, he was awarded the International Classical Music Award (ICMA) in the category "Baroque Vocal", whilst a member of the Cappella Murensis.
Simon Schnorr has worked with orchestras such as the Berlin Philharmonic, the Vienna Philharmonic, the Mozarteum Orchestra Salzburg, the Vienna Academy Orchestra, Ensemble Resonanz, Concerto Köln and the Gustav Mahler Youth Orchestra under conductors including Claudio Abbado, Marc Albrecht, Michael Boder, Jacques Delacôte, Martin Haselböck, Stefano Montanari and Mirga Gražinytė-Tyla as well as with directors such as Robert Carsen, Christof Loy, Damiano Michieletto, Vera Nemirova, Peter Stein and Michael Sturminger.
2021-2022 season / 540 words. Not to be altered without permission.