Kurt Streit

Kurt Streit’s renown as a Mozart specialist has in recent years led him to further success in his broadening repertoire, encompassing works from composers such as Janacek (Glagolithic Mass in Frankfurt, Kat’a Kabanova in London and Amsterdam, both tenor roles in Jenufa in Chicago, Amsterdam and Bilbao, From the House of the Dead at the Met), Wagner (Erik in Der Fliegende Hollaender in Barcelona and Munich), Berlioz (Les Troyens in Geneva, La Damnation de Faust in Madrid), Bizet (Carmen with Maestro Harnoncourt at the Styriarte Fesitval in Graz), Weber (Euryanthe in Brussels) and Beethoven (Fidelio in Vienna), all the while keeping his Mozart interpretations alive with the title roles in La Clemenza di Tito and Idomeneo. His specialities also include Handel (Semele at the Royal Opera, Covent Garden, Jephtha and Theodora with Concentus Musicus in Vienna’s Musikverein, Rodelinda in Paris and Glyndebourne, and Partenope in Chicago and in Vienna, recorded for Chandos, soon a Tamerlano at Covent Garden) and Monteverdi—both Ulysse and Poppea with appearances in Berlin and Los Angeles.

Considered one of the world’s best Mozart interpreters throughout his career, Kurt Streit has performed Die Zauberflöte in 23 different productions around the world (over 150 times) and Idomeneo in seven different productions—in the opera houses of Naples, Vienna, Madrid, London, Hamburg, San Francisco and others. He regularly sings the title roles in Idomeneo (with current productions in Madrid and San Francisco), Lucio Silla (in Vienna and Barcelona), and La Clemenza di Tito (in New York, Vienna, Salzburg and Frankfurt). Performing in numerous productions of Don Giovanni, Così fan tutte and Die Entführung aus dem Serail, Streit has also featured in these and earlier works of Mozart in opera houses such as The Metropolitan Opera in New York, The Vienna State Opera, The Royal Opera House, Covent Garden in London, La Scala in Milan, both the Bastille and the Grand Opera in Paris, Teatro Real and the Zarzuela in Madrid, and on the prestigious stages of San Francisco, Tokyo, Aix-en-Provence, Chicago, Munich, Berlin, Rome and Salzburg.

In opera and in concert, Streit has appeared with the world’s foremost conductors including Harnoncourt (with whom he works regularly), Muti, Rattle, Ozawa, Gardiner, Sawallisch, Mehta, Levine, Maazel, with the noted symphony orchestras of Boston, Chicago, Los Angeles, St. Petersburg, Berlin, Vienna, Paris, Boston, Florence, Stockholm, and all four of London’s major orchestras.

Kurt Streit can be seen as well as heard on Warner Music’s DVD of Rodelinda from Glyndebourne and Dynamic’s DVD of Idomeneo from Naples. His discography includes two complete recordings of Così fan tutte with Daniel Barenboim (Erato) and with Sir Simon Rattle (EMI), Die Zauberflöte (L'Oiseau-Lyre), Die Entführung aus dem Serail (Sony Classical), as well as Cherubini’s Mass in D-minor with Riccardo Muti (EMI) and Franz Schmidt’s Das Buch mit Sieben Siegeln with Nikolaus Harnoncourt conducting the Vienna Philharmonic (Teldec). The Brahms Liebeslieder-Walzer recording for EMI was nominated for a prestigious Grammy award. Most recently he recorded Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony with Sir Simon Rattle and the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra (EMI) and the Mozart Requiem with Nikolaus Harnoncourt and Concentus Musicus (BMG). For a complete listing of recordings, please visit KurtStreit.com