Opera Scotland

Maximilian Schmitt Suggest updates

German tenor.

Maximilian Schmitt began his studies early, as a choirboy in the Regensburg Domspätzen. From 1999, he trained in voice performance with Prof. Anke Eggers at the Berlin University of the Arts. In 2005 and 2006, he was a member of the Young Ensemble at the Bavarian State Opera in Munich, gaining experience in master classes with Ann Murray and Robert Dean Smith. While still a member of the Young Ensemble, he made his debut at the Landestheater in Salzburg (as Tamino).

In Munich he performed roles such as Lord Cecil in Roberto Devereux, and Albazar in Il turco in Italia (in a staging by Christoph Loy at the 2007 Festival). In 2008 he began a two year contract at the Nationaltheater Mannheim, singing David (Die Meistersinger) and lyrical Mozart roles such as Tamino, Don Ottavio and Ferrando.

His concert career also thrives. He has worked with Andrew Manze, Daniel Harding, Thomas Hengelbrock, Leopold Hager, Ulf Schirmer, Marcus Creed, Trevor Pinnock, and Helmuth Rilling, and with such orchestras as the Akademie für Alte Musik in Berlin, Concerto Köln, Kammerorchester Basel, Bavarian & Mid-German Eadio Symphony Orchestra, Swedish Radio Symphony Orchestra and the Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra.

Other highlights include the part of the Narrator in Schumann’s Paradies und die Peri with the Barcelona Symphony Orchestra and in a staged production at Mannheim. In Leipzig he sang in Bach’s Mass in B Minor under Trevor Pinnock, and the St Matthew Passion under Riccardo Chailly. He has appeared in choral and oratorio works in both Paris and Vienna. He performs recitals together with pianist Gerold Huber.

His recordings include Haydn’s Creation under René Jacobs (on harmonia mundi France) as well as Bach’s St. Matthew Passion under Riccardo Chailly on Decca.

Last revised 31 March 2012.