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The German baritone, Tobias Scharfenberger, began his studies at the “Hochschule für Musik und Theater Hannover” with Professor Gerhard Faulstich and in Karlsruhe with Professor Roland Hermann. He participated in master-classes given by Brigitte Fassbaender, Peter Schreier and Thomas Allen as well as Roger Vignoles and the Mitsuko Shirai/Hartmut Höll-Duo.
Tobias Scharfenberger won prizes at he Mozart Competition in Würzburg and at the Berlin Singing Competition for Young Singers as well as the Prize for Young Artists of the Richard-Strauss-Society, Munich, which resulted in a recital with Wolfgang Sawallisch. In 1998 he was holding the Howard A. Stotler Scholarship at the Steans Institute for Young Artists at the Ravinia Festival, Chicago. For his interpretation of Schubert's Die Schöne Müllerin he was awarded the Bayreuth scholarship by the Richard-Wagner-Society, Cologne.
After more than five years as an ensemble member in the opera companies of Bielefeld and Cologne (Germany), Tobias Scharfenberger is presently enjoying a growing international career in operatic and concert repertoire. He has performed in some of the most prestigious opera companies in Germany including, Komische Oper Berlin, Aalto-Musiktheater Essen, Staatsoper Stuttgart and the opera house Frankfurt/M. In Italy he was invited to sing at Teatro Carlo Felice, Genova, Teatro Verdi, Padova, Teatro delle Muse, Ancona and for the re-opening of Teatro da Ponte in Vittorio Veneto.
His vast operatic repertoire includes Papageno (Die Zauberflöte), Guglielmo (Così fan Tutte), Count Almaviva (Le Nozze di Figaro), Danilo (The merry widow), and Figaro (The barber of Seville). He also appeared in the rarely mounted production of Genoveva by Robert Schumann or contemporary operas like Judith Weir's The blond Eckbert, the world-premiere of Salvatore Sciarrino's Perseo e Andromeda, John Adams' Death of Klinghoffer and Manfred Trojahn's Enrico. Most recently Tobias received international acclaim in the title role of the rediscovered Antonio Vivaldi opera Montezuma - the first staged performance after more than 270 years for the Barga-Festival/Altstadtherbst-Festival, Düsseldorf.
In the current season Tobias Scharfenberger appears at the opera house Krefeld/Mönchengladbach in the role of Belcore in a new production of Donizetti’s L’elisir d’amore as well as Pilate in Webber's Jesus Christ Superstar followed by the title-role in a new production Monteverdi’s Orfeo in Kaiserslautern. Beside numerous concerts he is giving his debut at the Beethoven-Festival 2009 as Tiresias in A. Steffani’s Niobe, conducted by Thomas Hengelbrock.
Tobias Scharfenberger's concert and oratorio appearances include performances with the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra conducted by Zubin Mehta, WDR Sinfonieorchester Köln conducted by Kent Nagano, Orchestra Sinfonica Nazionale della RAI (Turin) conducted by Jeffrey Tate, as well as the Münchener Kammerorchester, Bamberger Symphoniker and Melbourne Symphony Orchestra. He has given concerts and recitals in the USA, Israel, Spain, Austria, Switzerland, the Czech Republic, Russia and Australia. |
