Professor Siegfried Jerusalem

President of the jury / Tenor

Prof. Siegfried Jerusalem

Siegfried Jerusalem, born in Oberhausen, graduated from studying music from 1955 to 1960 at the Folkwang School in Essen (bassoon, piano and violin). From 1961 to 1977 he worked as a bassoonist with various orchestras, most recently at the Radio Symphony Orchestra Stuttgart. In 1971, he took singing lessons with Hertha Kalcher in Stuttgart.

In 1975, he stood in for Franco Bonisolli in a TV production (The Gypsy Baron). From then on his singing career soared. Jerusalem received guest contracts from various German opera houses: Aachen, Darmstadt, Hamburg, Stuttgart, Zurich, etc. At these houses he began with LOHENGRIN by Richard Wagner.

In 1977, he was heard for the first time at the Bayreuth Festival as Froh in DAS RHEINGOLD and the young sailor in TRISTAN UND ISOLDE. Since that time, he has been heard regularly at the Bayreuth Festival.

In 1978, he made his debut as Tamino in Die Zauberflöte at the Deutsche Oper in Berlin. Further engagements took him to Vienna, Metropolitan Opera New York, New Orleans, La Scala in Milan, Paris, London, Cologne, Geneva, Chicago, San Francisco, San Diego, Toronto, Washington, etc.

Siegfried Jerusalem has made various recordings, including Violanta, Schwanda, the bagpiper and Ring des Nibelungen, for all of which he received the coveted "Grammy." His Strauss recording with orchestral songs received Record of the Month Award in America.

At the Bayreuth Festival in 1988, Siegfried Jerusalem sang for the first time the young Siegfried in the RING DES NIBELUNGEN. This debut was judged sensational by most critics. In 1989, Jerusalem also took on Siegfried in GÖTTERDÄMMERUNG and could thus also build on the success of the previous year. 1990 was his the most successful year at the MET in New York. In the RING Cycle, he sang Loge in DAS RHEINGOLD and both Siegfrieds in SIEGFRIED and GÖTTERDÄMMERUNG. This RING was recorded for television and was seen by 55 million people in America. In 1991 he received the prestigious “Grammy" for Loge on the DG recording.

His debut with Tristan was presented at the 1993 opening of the Bayreuth Festival. It was a great personal success, which tied him for years to come as Tristan at all major opera houses.

His recent projects have included Aegisthus in ELEKTRA in New York, London, at the Verbier Festival, Naples, Berlin and San Sebastian with the Westdeutsche Rundfunk as well as Herod in SALOME in Tokyo, New York (Met) and Rome. In the 2005/2006 season, Siegfried Jerusalem was heard as Danilo in the MERRY WIDOW conducted by Daniel Barenboim at the Staatsoper Berlin and as Aegisthus at the Tanglewood Festival with James Levine. In 2008, he sang Herod again with Simone Young conducting in Hamburg as well as in Valencia under the direction of Zubin Metha.

On October 9, 1997, Federal President Roman Herzog presented the Federal Cross of Merit 1st Class to Siegfried Jerusalem.

Since 2001, Siegfried Jerusalem has been professor at the Academy of Music in Nuremberg, over which he presided as president from 2001 to 2009. Furthermore, he has a great singing class at Selbiger Musikhochschule and holds many master classes around the world. Sometimes he nevertheless still can be heard on the stage, currently at the Berlin State Opera in Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg conducted by Daniel Barenboim.