| Biography | Bass-baritone Konstantin Wolff studied at Musikhochschule Karlsruhe with Prof. Donald Litaker and developed a style of interpretation which is dominated by a colourful interpretation of the words.
He started his international career on opera and concert platforms being strongly influenced by conductors who approach music from declamation of the text and using period instruments.
This was at first William Christie (Les Arts Florissants) who invited Konstantin for several concert and opera productions, including Konstantin's operatic debut in Lyon (L'incoronazione di Poppea, Mercurio) and Handel's Orlando in Zurich.
Since 2007 he has been working with René Jacobs on opera stages in Vienna (Rossini Tancredi), Aix-en-Provence (Zauberflöte, Sprecher), Bruxelles and Amsterdam (Orlando, Zoroastro, as well as in concerts and CD recordings like Mozart's Zauberflöte and Bach's St. Matthew passion.
In 2011 Konstantin started to collaborate with Teodor Currentzis, singing Mozart's Requiem and Cosi fan tutte (Don Alfonso) at Festspielhaus Baden-Baden, in 2015 as well at Konzerthaus Dortmund.
Since then his repertoire has been focusing more and more on Handel and Mozart. Konstantin has appeared in Handels Rodelinda at Theater an der Wien (Nikolaus Harnoncourt) and in Bilbao (Alan Curtis), Orlando in Zurich (W.Christie) and La Monnaie Bruxelles (René Jacobs), as well as in Giulio Cesare (Acchilla) at the Handel festival Göttingen under Nicholas McGegan.
He appeared as Masetto (Don Giovanni) in Baden-Baden and performed the title role in Le nozze di Figaro in Montpellier, also on tour with René Jacobs, and sang Conte Almaviva at Volksoper Vienna.
Konstantin was as well part of some modern and contemporary opera productions such as Gesualdo by Marc-André Dalbavie in Zürich, Frühlings Erwachen by Benoit Mernier in Bruxelles, and Brittens A midsummer nights dream (Snug) and Curlew river (The Abbot) in Lyon and Athens.
Konstantin's concert repertoire includes the big oratorios of Handel and Bach, Haydns Creation and The Seasons, Beethovens Symphony Nr. 9, Mendelssohns Paulus and Elias, as well as the Requiems by Mozart, Brahms, Dvorak, Fauré and Hindemith, Mahler's Wunderhornlieder and Golgotha by Frank Martin.
¨Konstantin has regularly been working with leading baroque ensembles such as Concerto Köln, Akademie für Alte Musik Berlin, Balthasar-Neumann-Ensemble, Kammerorchester Basel, Les Musiciens du Louvre, Le Cercle de lHarmonie and La Scintilla, and has been invited by renowned symphony orchestras like Mahler Chamber Orchestra, Berliner Philharmoniker, Gewandhausorchester Leipzig, Orchestra of the West-German Radio Cologne, Deutsche Kammerphilharmonie Bremen, Stuttgarter Philharmoniker, Wiener Symphoniker, Mozarteumorchester Salzburg, Orchestre des Champs-Elysées, Orchestre de la Radio France, Orchestra del RAI Turin.
The bass-Baritone had already the pleasure to work with conductors such as Nikolaus Harnoncourt, Jérémie Rohrer, Claudio Abbado, Sir Simon Rattle, Yannick Nézet-Séguin, Marc Minkowsi, Riccardo Chailly, Manfred Honeck, Helmuth Rilling and Ton Koopman.
¨In recitals he performed in many places throughout Germany, France, Switzerland and Austria and was replacing Juliane Banse at the Schubertiade Schwarzenberg in 2010. His first recital album Victor Hugo en musique with pianist Trung Sam was released in 2008 on Harmonia Mundi France.
Konstantins artistic work and development can be retraced in a colourful list of CD and DVD recordings highlighted by Mozarts Magic flute with René Jacobs, Bachs christmas oratorio with conductor Riccardo Chailly (Decca) and Cosi fan tutte with Teodor Currentzis for SONY. |