Hans Peter Blochwitz

  Peter Blochwitz (Tenor)

Born: September 28, 1949 - Garmisch-Partenkirchen, Germany

The German tenor, Hans Peter Blochwitz, received an engineering degree (Ph.D.) in computer science. After singing in amateur choruses and occasional concerts, he pursued a vocal career. He studied singing in Mainz and Frankfurt.

Hans Peter Blochwitz made his operatic debut in September 1984 as Lenski in a new production of Eugen Onegin at the Frankfurt am Main Opera. His career developed remarkably fast, and he sang in Brussels, Geneva, Hamburg, Milan and Vienna, and has enjoyed an extensive operatic career ever since. When Peter Schreier conducted his first Don Giovanni (Hamburg, 1987) he chose Hans Peter Blochwitz for Don Ottavio which role tenor Peter Schreier considers his most favourite Mozart part. He has been engaged to sing Mozart’s tenor parts at the world’s foremost opera houses. He appeared in Milan’s La Scala, Vienna, Brussels, Paris’s La Bastille and Châtelet, Geneva, Zürich, London’s Covent Garden, Frankfurt, Amsterdam, Hamburg, San Francisco (Idamante in Idomeneo) and San Diego.

Hans Peter Blochwitz made his debut in the USA in March 1987, singing the part of Evangelist in Bach's St Matthew Passion (BWV 244) with Georg Solti and Chicago Symphony Orchestra. In 1989 he made his first appearance at London's Covent Garden as Mozart's Fernando, and that same year made his USA operatic debut in San Francisco as Don Ottavio. In September 1990 he made his debut at the Metropolitan Opera in New York, and the following month made his USA recital debut in La Jolla, California. Subsequently he sang in opera and concert on both sides of the Atlantic. In the 1990-1991 season the Metropolitan Opera (Don Ottavio) and the Salzburg Festival (Belmonte) were added to this impressive list. In 1992-1993 role debuts were Flamand/Capriccio in Zürich and the title role in La Clemenza di Tito in Frankfurt. Among his operatic roles are Mozart's Tito, Tamino, and Belmonte, as well as Rossini's Count Almaviva and Donizetti's Nemorino.

Parallel to his opera activities, Hans Peter Blochwitz dedicates a great amount of his time to the vocal-symphonic works as well as to Lieder. He is a much sought-after Evangelist in Bach’s two settings of the Passion. His debut in the USA singing the part of Evangelist in J.S. Bach's St Matthew Passion (BWV 244), was described by one of the ‘The Chicago Tribune’ as a sensational discovery. His impressive oratorio and concert repertoire ranges from J.S. Bach and Georg Frideric Handel to Zemlinsky and Britten, and includes also works by Monteverdi, Haydn and Mozart, as well as Martin’s Golgatha or Henze’s Der junge Lord. As a concert singer he has worked with all major European orchestras.

A very stylish singer, with superb diction, he has a firm-toned lyrical voice perfectly adapted to Bach and Mozart, and with noteworthy regard for Lieder of Schubert and Schumann. He gives Lieder recitals all over Europe, including the Amsterdam Concertgebouw, the Wigmore Hall in London, Vienna, Paris, Frankfurt, Lisbon, Brussels, and some international summer festivals, including Aix-en-Provence. His enormous success in the world premiere of Hans Zender's composition based on Schubert's Die Winterreise in Frankfurt, September 1993 led to numerous invitations to sing the work in all major European Festivals. In the meantime the CD of Zender's Winterreise became a hit on various classical top-tens.

Activities in 1995-1997 included three new opera productions: Henze's Der junge Lord in Munich, Capriccio in Dresden, and Die Zauberflöte in Lyon. The Japanese Broadcasting Corporation NHK made his TV-portrait with interpretations of the German Lied. Further, he sings concerts with the Japanese Broadcasting Symphony Orchestra, the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra under Riccardo Chailly, the Dresden Staatskapelle, and the Gewandhausorchester.

Hans Peter Blochwitz' CD’s in the areas of opera and oratorio include: Matthew Passion (BWV 244) with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra conducted by Sir Georg Solti (Decca), Felix Mendelssohn's Paulus (Kurt Masur) and Lobgesang Symphony (Claudio Abbado), Mozart Requiem (John Eliot Gardiner), Mozart's Davidde Penitente and Schuldigkeit des ersteen Gbots (Neville Marriner), C-Minor Mass (Claudio Abbado), Die Zauberflöte/Tamino (Nikolaus Harnoncourt), Cosi fan Tutte (James Levine), Don Giovanni (Nikolaus Harnoncourt), J.S. Bach's Saint Matthew Passion (BWV 244) arias (Philippe Herreweghe) and Weihnachts-Oratorium (BWV 248) (John Eliot Gardiner), La Finta Semplice (Peter Schreier), Fidelio/Joacquino (Haitink), Die Schöpfung (Neville Marriner) and B-Minor Mass (BWV 232) (Georg Solti), Gustav Mahler's Das Klagende Lied (Richard Hickox) and Das Lied von der Erde (Philippe Herreweghe). As an interpreter of Lieder he can be heard on CD recordings Schubert's Die Schöne Müllerin and Zemlinsky Lieder (both on DGG), Schumann's Dichterliebe/Liederkreis (EMI) and Ausgewählte Lieder of Schubert (Phillips), and Johannes Brahms Die Schöne Magelone (Berlin Classics).