Grammy winner. Laureate of Caruso competition in Milano. Professor of Hanover Higher school of Music and Theatre. Participant of music festivals in Salzburg and Pesaro. Performs at leading European venues such as the La Fenice Opera House in Venice, the Liceu Opera Barcelona, Opéra de Lyon, the Bavarian and Berlin State Operas. Among his recent appearances are those in Berg’s Wozzeck in the Komische Oper Berlin and The Bat by Strauss in the Nederlandse Reisopera.
Markus Schäfer’s stage partners include the renowned interpreters of baroque music – René Jacobs, Sigiswald Kuijken, Frans Bruggen, Paul McCreesh, Nikolaus Harnoncourt, Philippe Herreweghe, Ton Koopmann, Gustav Leonhardt, as well as renowned performers of contemporary music – Michael Gielen, Kent Nagano and others.
The musician’s repertoire includes roles in cantata-oratorio compositions and operas by Handel and Viennese classics, vocal cycles by Schubert, Schumann and composers of the 20th century. Markus Schäfer became famous as an unsurpassed performer of the role of Evangelist in The Passion by Johann Sebastian Bach. The recording of St. Matthew Passion, featuring Schäfer with Nikolaus Harnoncourt and Concentus Musicus Wein, won a Grammy award, and the Giob oratorio by K. D. von Dittersdorf, conducted by Hermann Max, received the German Record Critics’ Award.
