Thomas Hampson
Walter Thomas Hampson is an American lyric baritone, a classical singer who has appeared world-wide in major opera houses and concert halls and made over 170 musical recordings.
Hampson's operatic repertoire spans a range of more than 80 roles, including the title roles in Mozart's Don Giovanni, Rossini's Guillaume Tell and Il barbiere di Siviglia, Thomas' Hamlet, and Tchaikovsky's Eugene Onegin. The center of his Verdi repertoire remains Posa in Don Carlo, Germont in La traviata, the title roles in Macbeth and Simon Boccanegra, and more recently also Amfortas in Wagner's Parsifal and Scarpia in Puccini's Tosca.
As a recitalist Hampson has won worldwide recognition for his thoughtfully researched and creatively constructed programs that explore the rich repertoire of song in a wide range of styles, languages, and periods. He is one of the most important interpreters of German Romantic song – especially known for his interpretations of the music of Gustav Mahler – and, with his "Song of America" project collaboration with the Library of Congress, has become known as the "ambassador" of American song,and was named a "living Legend" by the Librarian James Billington.
Hampson's diverse and expansive discography has earned him an Edison Award for Lifetime Achievement, four Edison Awards, four Echo prizes, numerous VEB Deutsche Schallplatten, Gramophone Awards, and Grand Prix du Disque, as well as six Grammy Award nominations, and one Grammy Award. Vienna Acoustics, an Austrian music company, named one of their speakers "The Hampson Edition."
Dame Elisabeth Schwarzkopf once said of her student, " the best singer in Europe right now."
Early life and education
Born in Elkhart, Indiana, Hampson has two older sisters, with whom he sang in church as a child. He grew up in Spokane, Washington, where he enrolled at Eastern Washington State College in Cheney, majoring in political science/government. Concurrently, Hampson earned a BFA in Voice Performance at Fort Wright College under the tutelage of Sister Marietta Coyle. During the summers of 1978 and 1979, he studied under Gwendolyn Koldowsky and Martial Singher at the Music Academy of the West, where he won the Lotte Lehmann Award. He then continued his studies at the University of Southern California Thornton School of Music, where he worked with vocal coach Jack Metz and the baritone Horst Günter, a lifelong mentor. In 1980, as a consequence of winning the San Francisco Opera audition, he competed in the Merola Opera Program, in which he met Elisabeth Schwarzkopf. In 1981, he was one of the winners in the Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions national finals.Early career
An audition tour in Europe in the early 1980s brought him a contract with the Deutsche Oper am Rhein in Düsseldorf, as well as the opportunity to study with Dame Elisabeth Schwarzkopf, whom he had met at the Merola program. In his three years as a member of the Düsseldorf ensemble, he honed his stage experience with a number of smaller roles, but also had bigger assignments, both in Düsseldorf and elsewhere. He sang the title role in Henze's Der Prinz von Homburg in Darmstadt, and Guglielmo, in a Jonathan Miller production of Mozart's Così fan tutte at the Opera Theatre of Saint Louis, which brought him significant attention in the United States.In 1984, he began an engagement at the Opernhaus Zürich as a principal lyric baritone, among others participating in the legendary Harnoncourt-Ponnelle Mozart cycle, including all of the Da Ponte operas and the title role of the famed 1987 production of Don Giovanni. Engagements during this time also included those with companies in Hamburg, Cologne, and Vienna, and his 1984 London recital debut at Wigmore Hall.
His U.S. recital debut occurred April 14, 1986, at The Town Hall in New York, where The New York Times praised him for "good looks, a commanding stage presence and, even within the confines of the recital format, an apparently vivid theatricality...". Shortly after, he made his Metropolitan Opera debut on October 9, 1986, as the Count in Le nozze di Figaro. In 1986, he was invited to audition for Leonard Bernstein, which led to Hampson's participation in the 1987 semi-staged performance of Puccini's La bohème in Rome, led by Bernstein, and, soon after, their legendary performances with the Vienna Philharmonic of Gustav Mahler's Kindertotenlieder, Rückert-Lieder and Lieder eines fahrenden Gesellen. From this point forward, he was recognized as "among the leading lyric baritones of the late century."
1990s
The next years brought performances in many of the world's most important concert venues, opera houses and festivals, where Hampson performed with some of the world's most renowned pianists, orchestras and conductors.In 1990, Hampson released his first solo recital album on Teldec titled Des Knaben Wunderhorn, in collaboration with Geoffrey Parsons. The piano used for the recording had belonged to Mahler himself. The New York Times praised the recording, saying that "the performances have a luminous beauty and cast a storyteller's spell." In February and March of the same year, Hampson continued his partnership with Bernstein, first in a widely appreciated performance of Mahler's Rückert-Lieder and Lieder eines fahrenden Gesellen, and then for his Carnegie Hall debut, performing Mahler's two cycles with the Vienna Philharmonic. In November, he made his San Francisco Opera debut, performing the title role in Monteverdi's Il ritorno d'Ulisse in patria and role debut as Don Giovanni at the Metropolitan Opera.
In 1991, Hampson opened the New York Philharmonic season in a Live from Lincoln Center telecast, singing Aaron Copland's Old American Songs in a performance conducted by Kurt Masur. He also sang in the 25th Anniversary Gala of the Metropolitan Opera, which was recorded live for video/CDV. The same year, he released a Cole Porter tribute album on EMI/Angel.
In 1992, he was named the Musical America's Singer of the Year, alongside John Corigliano, Robert Shaw, Christoph von Dohnányi, and Yo-Yo Ma. The year included many notable performances, including: the Rossini 200th birthday gala at Avery Fisher Hall, the title role in Britten's Billy Budd at the Met, the Count in Le nozze di Figaro at Florence's Maggio Musicale conducted by Zubin Mehta, Brahms' Ein deutsches Requiem with Daniel Barenboim at the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, and two performances of Schumann's Dichterliebe: one in Geneva and the other in his first recital at Carnegie Hall.
Hampson began 1993 by performing his first rendition of the title character in Thomas' Hamlet in Monte Carlo. The performance was subsequently recorded for EMI/Angel. That year, he continued to add to his repertoire with performances including Il barbiere di Siviglia at The Royal Opera House, Covent Garden and the Met, his debut in the role of Posa in Verdi's Don Carlo in Zürich, the title role in Henze's Der Prinz von Homburg, and Chorebe in Les Troyens by Berlioz at the Metropolitan Opera. 1993 also saw the beginning of Hampson's institutional involvement in the classical world, when he gave a series of master classes at the Tanglewood Festival in Lenox, Massachusetts. He was also awarded an honorary doctorate of music in his hometown of Spokane, Washington from Whitworth College that same year, and took a large role in the publication of a new critical edition of Mahler songs, alongside which he released a recording in collaboration with Geoffrey Parsons.
In January 1994, Hampson made his debut with the Houston Symphony Orchestra, singing Mahler and Copland, and conducted by Christoph Eschenbach. Later that month he was named Male Singer of the Year by the International Classical Music Awards. He then embarked on a five-month tour that led him to over twenty cities, featuring recitals debuts in Reutlingen, State College, Washington, D.C., Iowa City, Fort Worth, Quebec, and Buffalo, New York. In July, he opened the Mostly Mozart Festival in a telecast Live from Lincoln Center, and then in August he performed at the Salzburg Festival with a solo recital of Barber and Mahler. In September, he sang the leading role in the world premiere of the Conrad Susa and Philip Littell's opera, The Dangerous Liaisons and then in October recorded the 20 Lieder und Gesänge based on his and Dr. Renate Hilmar-Voit's research.
In 1995, Hampson received two awards for his contribution to classical music: the Cannes Classical Music Award for Singer of the Year in 1994, and the Echo Music Prize for Best Male Singer. That year, he went on to perform in a number of significant productions, including Das Lied von der Erde at Carnegie Hall under the baton of James Levine, a Live from Lincoln Center telecast with Kathleen Battle, a performance of Britten's War Requiem in Rome conducted by Wolfgang Sawallisch, a recital of all of Gustav Mahler's songs for the Mahler Festival at Concertgebouw, and another engagement with Sawallisch and the Philadelphia Orchestra at the Academy of Music.
Hampson began to develop his interest in American Song in 1996, first with his January performance at a Gala benefit for WNET and next with the I Hear America Singing: Great Performances project, shot in May. In February 1996, President Bill Clinton extended Hampson's first invitation to sing at the White House during a state dinner honoring French President Jacques Chirac. Additionally, he was inducted as an Honorary Member of the Royal Academy of Music in London in June. Other important appearances of Hampson's in 1996 include a series of master classes at the Mozarteum University of Salzburg, and two productions of Don Carlos in the original French, one in Paris and one in London.
In April 1997, he made his first performance as Eugene Onegin in Tchaikovsky's opera of the same name at the Vienna State Opera, and in May he reunited with Harnoncourt for a rare production of Schubert's Alfonso und Estrella at Theater an der Wien in Vienna. Hampson also cemented his role as an American musical fixture, first by serving as Artistic Director, Creative Consultant, and Performer on the PBS production "Thomas Hampson: I Hear America Singing," and next by winning EMI's Artist of the Year Award. He also made his first appearance as Riccardo in Bellini's I puritani at the Metropolitan Opera, his performance being hailed as "the most serious bel canto effort" by the Metropolitan Opera Guild. In October he débuted yet another role: Antonio in Donizetti's rarely performed Linda di Chamounix at the Vienna State Opera.
Hampson began 1998 with the world premiere of Richard Danielpour's Elegies in Jacksonville, Florida and later reprised the role at Carnegie Hall. In February he teamed up with Jerry Hadley, Cheryl Studer, and Craig Rutenberg to perform I Hear America Singing at the Barbican Centre in London. Late in the year, Hampson found himself engaged at the Vienna State Opera once more, this time debuting the title role of Rossini's Guillaume Tell.
Early 1999 saw Hampson back at the Metropolitan Opera, this time in the title role in the baritone version of Massenet's Werther, alongside Susan Graham. In April he performed with soprano Renée Fleming at the White House for a gala. In July, he made yet another role debut: Wolfram in Wagner's Tannhäuser, a role that would later win him the 2002 Grammy Award for Best Opera Recording. In August he made another debut in Busoni's Doktor Faust.