
Rufus Müller, tenor
The English-German tenor, Rufus Müller, was acclaimed by The New York
Times following a performance in Carnegie Hall as "...easily the best
tenor I have heard in a live Messiah." He is a leading Evangelist in
Bach's Passions and his unique dramatic interpretation of this rôle has
confirmed his status as one of the world's most sought-after performers.
He gave the world premiere of Jonathan Miller's acclaimed production of
the St Matthew Passion, which he also recorded for United and broadcast
on BBC TV; he has repeated his performance in three revivals of the
production at the Brooklyn Academy of Music in New York.
In
demand for oratorio and opera, Rufus Müller has worked with many leading
conductors including Franz Welser-Möst, Sir John Eliot Gardiner, Roger
Norrington, Ivor Bolton, Richard Hickox, Nicholas McGegan, Gustav
Leonhardt, Frans Brüggen, Trevor Pinnock, Philippe Herreweghe, Joshua
Rifkin, Andrew Parrott, Nicholas Kraemer and Ivan Fischer. He has given
solo recitals in the Wigmore Hall and the Barbican Concert Hall in
London as well as for BBC Radio, and in Munich, Tokyo, Barcelona,
Madrid, Utrecht, Paris, Salzburg and New York. He has a regular
partnership with the pianist Maria João Pires with whom he has performed
in Spain, Portugal, Germany, Ireland, Japan and the UK, notably in a
three-concert Schubertiade in Spain and London's Wigmore Hall.
Operatic
roles include Tamino (Garsington Opera) Lucano in L'Incoronazione di
Poppea (Houston Grand Opera), the title roles in Rameau's Pygmalion and
Lully's Persée (Opera Atelier in Toronto), the title role in
Monteverdi's Orfeo (Opera Zuid in The Netherlands), Aminta in Peri's
Euridice (Opéra de Normandie), Alessandro in Handel's Poro (Halle) and
Lurcanio in Handel's Ariodante in Göttingen with Nicholas McGegan
released on a prize-winning disc by Harmonia Mundi USA. He has also sung
Tersandre in Lully's Roland with René Jacobs in Paris, Lisbon and
Montpellier, Giuliano in Handel's Rodrigo in Siena, Castor in Rameau's
Castor et Pollux in Magdeburg, Il Ritorno di Ulisse in Patria in Athens,
Florence and Cremona, Oronte in Alcina with Paul Goodwin and the
Academy of Ancient Music in Montreux and Poissy, Soliman Zaide with Ivor
Bolton and the Freiburg Baroque Orchestra in London, and the title role
in the modern-day premiere of Manuel Garcia's Don Chisciotte which
toured Spain as part of the country's celebrations of Cervantes 400th
anniversary.
Other recordings include Bach's St John Passion and
Bach Cantatas with John Elliot Gardiner for DG Archiv, Mozart's Die
Zauberflöte and Beethoven's Choral Fantasia with Roger Norrington for
EMI, Dowland's First Book of Airs with lutenist Christopher Wilson for
ASV, Haydn's O Tuneful Voice and songs by Benda with soprano Emma Kirkby
and three recordings of 19th-century songs with Invocation, all for
Hyperion, Telemann's Admiralitätsmusik on CPO, Telemann solo cantatas on
Capriccio, Ned Rorem's Evidence of Things Not Seen with the New York
Festival of Song on New World Records, songs by Franz Lachner with
Christoph Hammer on Oehms Classics, Haydn's Creation with Oxford
Philomusica with Edward HIgginbottom, and Messiah with the National
Cathedral, Washington DC and Michael McCarthy.
Rufus Müller's
numerous performances as the Evangelist include Lucerne, Munich,
Toronto, Calgary, New York, London, Birmingham, Göteborg, Stockholm,
Copenhagen, Dortmund, Bordeaux, Washington DC. His many performances of
Messiah include regular appearances at Carnegie Hall in New York, a
televised tour in Spain with Trevor Pinnock and the English Concert, as
well as performances in Canada, Denmark, Norway, Sweden and the UK.
Numerous other concert engagements have included Bach Cantatas with John
Eliot Gardiner in London, works by Bach and Handel with the Philhamonia
Baroque Orchestra and Nicholas McGegan in San Francisco, a European
tour of Casals El Pessebre with the Berlin Symphony Orchestra, Bach's
Magnificat at the BBC Proms, and Finzi's Dies Natalis with the Orchestra
della Svizzera Italiano and Thierry Fischer.
This year's
recital engagements include Schubert's Die Schöne Müllerin with Matan
Porat in Portugal, Winterreise with Maria Jõao Pires in Lisbon and on
tour in Spain, and Schumann's Dichterliebe and Liederkreis Op.39 with
fortepianist Christoph Hammer in Germany. In addition Rufus will perform
the title role in Mozart's La Clemenza di Tito in Germany, and
Beethoven's 9th Symphony with Tafelmusik Orchestra and Bruno Weill in
Toronto.
Rufus Müller was born in Kent, England and was a choral
scholar at New College, Oxford. He is at present studying in New York
with Thomas LoMonaco. In 1985 he won first prize in the English Song
Award in Brighton, and in 1999 was a prize winner in the Oratorio
Society of New York Singing Competition. He is Assistant Professor of
Music at Bard College, New York.
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