Daniel Johannsen

"When it comes to turning (German-language) texts into music, Daniel Johannsen currently marks the pinnacle of sensual conveyance of meaning." This is how the Leipziger Volkszeitung hymnally reviews the 2023 OPUS KLASSIK nominated CD 360° Hugo Wolf, which the Viennese-born tenor presented together with the pianist Andreas Fröschl. After training as a church musician, the tenor studied voice with Margit Klaushofer and Robert Holl in Vienna; he was a master student of Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau, Christa Ludwig and Nicolai Gedda and has won prizes at the Bach-, Schumann-, Mozart-, Hilde Zadek and Wigmore Hall competitions.

As one of the most sought-after evangelists and Bach interpreters, Daniel Johannsen has performed in the major music centres of Europe, North America, Japan and the Middle East, as well as at numerous festivals (Beethovenfest Bonn, Enescu Festival Bucharest, Bachwoche Ansbach, to name but a few). He has performed under the baton of legendary conductors such as Sir Neville Marriner, Nikolaus Harnoncourt, Philippe Herreweghe, René Jacobs, Trevor Pinnock, Jordi Savall, Bertrand de Billy, Michel Corboz, Andrew Parrott and Omer Meir Wellber, as well as with the Israel Philharmonic, the Staatskapelle Dresden and the Vienna Philharmonic. A particularly close artistic friendship united him with Enoch zu Guttenberg, who died in 2018; performances at New York's Carnegie Hall and the Great Hall of Moscow's Tchaikovsky Conservatory, among others, bear witness to this. Daniel Johannsen is a regular guest of the St. Gallen Bach Foundation and the Nederlandse Bachvereniging ("All of Bach"), and he also enjoys a lively collaboration with Hansjörg Albrecht, Michael Hofstetter and Matthias Grünert

On the opera stage, the lyric tenor, whose engagements have taken him to Munich's Gärtnerplatz, the Leipzig Opera, the Vienna Volksoper and the Bonn Theatre, can be heard in Mozart roles, in works of the Baroque, the 20th century and the modern era, but also in several operetta roles. Lieder recitals with the whole range of the German repertoire (but also with English and French compositions) form a focal point in the activities of the singer, who collaborates with pianists such as Graham Johnson, Charles Spencer and Kristian Bezuidenhout. Some 50 CDs, most of them highly acclaimed by radio and press, document his work.

In 2023-24, his agenda includes numerous projects with Hans-Christoph Rademann as well as several concerts for the Gesellschaft der Musikfreunde in Vienna. Under the baton of Martin Haselböck, Daniel Johannsen will make his debut as Evangelist in Los Angeles, and under Kent Nagano he will be heard in Bach's "Christmas Oratorio" in Munich. Once again he will be a guest at the Festival Bach à Montréal and at the Israeli Schubertiade. For the Bachfest Leipzig, he has developed an eagerly awaited concept that brings Schubert's “Winterreise” into dialogue with selected arias by Bach - in each case accompanied by the Atalante Quartet. Also in a string arrangement, and as a world premiere, his interpretation of the “Schöne Müllerin” with the Alinde Quartet (in the form of a double CD, which also includes the original version with Christoph Hammer at the Graf grand piano from 1827) will soon be released by hänssler.