The Power of Song - South Tyrolean baritone Andrè Schuen joins Deutsche Grammophon
Deutsche Grammophon is delighted to have signed an exclusive agreement with Andrè Schuen. The announcement coincides with the 35-year-old baritone’s appearance as Guglielmo in Così fan tutte at this summer’s Salzburg Festival. His Yellow Label debut album, a recording of Schubert’s Die schöne Müllerin, is set for release next spring, in time to accompany his scheduled performances of the work in Germany, Austria, Spain and Poland. This will be followed by albums featuring Schubert’s Winterreise and Schwanengesang. Andrè’s interpretation of “Ungeduld” from Die schöne Müllerin will be released on 7 August as part of Musical Moments, the innovative series which was launched by Deutsche Grammophon last May to present new tracks from the world’s leading classical musicians.
Praised by Opera Today for the “intelligence and sensitivity” of his lieder singing and by the Frankfurter Rundschau for his “unreservedly wonderful voice”, Andrè Schuen is in high demand in opera and as a concert performer. During the 2020–21 season he will sing Mozart’s Guglielmo and Papageno at the Bayerische Staatsoper, and the title-role in Eugene Onegin, Marcello in La bohème and the Count in Le nozze di Figaro at the Wiener Staatsoper, as well as giving song recitals at the Schubertiade at Hohenems and Schwarzenberg. Past highlights include Bach’s Christmas Oratorio with the Boston Symphony Orchestra and Andris Nelsons, Die schöne Müllerin and Schwanengesang at the Schubertiade, and the title-role in the world premiere of Anno Schreier’s Hamlet at Vienna’s Theater an der Wien.
“It is a true pleasure to welcome Andrè to the Yellow Label,” comments Dr Clemens Trautmann, President Deutsche Grammophon. “He is a wonderful musician and natural communicator, with an artistic soul that speaks directly to the emotions. Andrè’s profound feeling for words and their poetic expression places him in the line of great lieder interpreters, which fits so well with DG’s commitment to song. He has also made his mark as an opera singer with his rich, warm voice, tremendous stage presence and charisma. We look forward to developing projects that cover Andrè’s wide repertoire and introducing this wonderful singer to new listeners worldwide.”
Andrè Schuen is excited about the prospect of building compelling programmes with the Yellow Label. “It is a great honour for me to join Deutsche Grammophon’s family of artists,” he notes. “Following in the footsteps of so many giants, I feel inspired by the company’s remarkable history and creative energy. I believe there is a hunger now for what song and opera have to offer the human spirit, and am delighted that DG is determined to enable as many people as possible to experience this transcendent music.”
Born and raised in the Ladin area of La Val (South Tyrol, Italy), Andrè Schuen speaks three native languages: Italian, German and Ladin. Music was and remains central to Schuen family life. Andrè studied cello as a child and, in 2009, formed an ensemble with his father, mother, two sisters and a cousin to perform Ladin folk music. Having spent years focusing on the cello, he then decided to train as a singer. He won a place at the Salzburg Mozarteum, where he studied with Horiana Branisteanu and with Wolfgang Holzmair (lieder and oratorio), as well as participating in masterclasses with Kurt Widmer, Sir Thomas Allen, Brigitte Fassbaender, Romualdo Savastano and Olaf Bär.
After graduating with distinction in 2010, Schuen earned critical acclaim as one of the few singers to appear throughout Nikolaus Harnoncourt’s cycle of Mozart’s Da Ponte operas at the Theater an der Wien, where he sang the roles of Figaro, Don Giovanni and Guglielmo. The baritone’s partnership with pianist Daniel Heide has flourished in concert and on disc, while he has also given critically acclaimed recitals with Thomas Adès and Andreas Haefliger.
