My career has been ongoing since the early 1970s, even as I was still studying. Here are some of the highlights.
In 1972, I first met Nikolaus Harnoncourt and had my first concerts with Concentus Musicus Wien. I then went on to study early music performance practice with him in Salzburg from 1972 to 1976, and I played occasionally in larger productions in Vienna and Amsterdam (The Fairy Queen, Orfeo, Dido and Aeneas, Jephtha), and I also participated in a few recordings (Monteverdi with Cathy Berberian, on the gamba, and Händel’s Belshazzar, on the bass). Nikolaus Harnoncourt has been a major inspiration to me throughout my entire career, and the knowledge he has passed on to me has been of inestimable value throughout the decades.
From 1974 to 1981, I was a permanent member of Reinhard Goebel‘s musica antiqua köln, playing the bass, the gamba, and the violone. After 1981, I remained a guest artist with the group until 2002, and the group ultimately disbanded at the end of 2006. During my years with them, we went on tour extensively throughout Europe and South America and made many groundbreaking recordings – the 1986 release of the Brandenburg Concertos remains one of the high-water marks of my time with MAK and of my entire career, and is regarded as a legendary legacy of the group by reviewers and music lovers worldwide.
From 1981 to 2000, I worked regularly with the Belgian early music group Collegium Vocale Gent, directed by Philippe Herreweghe. We also traveled extensively throughout Europe, Israel, South America and Asia, focussing primarily on Bach cantatas and passions, Händel oratorios, as well as motets and sacred choral music by Schütz and the Bach family before and including Johann Sebastian.
I have been the principal double bass player of William Christie‘s Les Arts Florissants since January of 1985, and I have also played the viola da gamba and the violone with them. We have played a large amount of French repertoire – Rameau, Lully, Campra, M.-A. Charpentier, Mondonville, Desmarest, among others – but also Händel, Purcell, Gesualdo, and lots of Monteverdi, including his three operas which were performed using my editions of the scores at the Teatro Real in Madrid (L’Orfeo in 2008, Il ritorno d’Ulisse in patria in 2009, and L’incoronazione di Poppea in 2010), and subsequently released on DVD. With LAF, I have had the opportunity to perform all over Europe as well as the United States, Canada, several Latin American countries, North Africa, Russia, China, Japan, Hong Kong, Macao, Australia, Korea, and Singapore. We have also made a great number of recordings, both on CD and DVD.
www.arts-florissants.com www.artsflomedia.com
Here are a few of the people I have had the honor and privilege of performing with over the years: Nikolaus Harnoncourt, Reinhard Goebel, William Christie, Jan Krenz, Leopold Hager, Joyce DiDonato, Lorraine Hunt, Mark Padmore, Peter Kooy, Brian Feehan, Sir Willard White, Philippe Jaroussky, Gustav Leonhardt, Bart and Sigiswald Kuijken, Renee Fleming, Herbert Tachezi, Philippe Herreweghe, Alan Curtis, Dame Sarah Connolly, Marielle and Katia Labèque, Friedrich Gulda, Ottó Till, Lajos Rovátkay, Andreas Staier, Xavier de Maistre, Matthew Halls, Lars-Ulrik Mortensen, Reggie Mobley … and so many others.
Here are some of the venues I have had pleasure of performing in: Palais Garnier (Paris Opera), Musikverein (Vienna), Konzerthaus (Vienna), Concertgebouw (Amsterdam), Palais des Beaux Arts/Paleis van Schone Kunsten (Brussels), La Monnaie/De Munt (Brussels), Alice Tully Hall (New York), Brooklyn Academy of Music (New York), Symphony Hall (Chicago), The Kennedy Center (Washington D.C.), Philharmonie (Berlin), Konzerthaus (Berlin), Staatsoper (Vienna), Theater an der Wien (Vienna), Teatro Colón (Buenos Aires), Teatro Municipal (Rio de Janeiro), Great Hall of the Liszt Academy (Budapest), Művészetek Palotája (“Müpa,” Palace of Arts, Budapest), La Scala (Milan), Teatro Real (Madrid), Auditório Nacional (Madrid), Fundação Gulbenkian (Lisbon), Barbican Center (London), ROH Covent Garden (London), Royal Albert Hall (London), Tchaikovsky Concert Hall (Moscow), Bolshoi Theatre (Moscow), Grand Theatre (Shanghai), Recital Hall (Melbourne), Opera House (Sydney), Lotte Concert Hall (Seoul), Macao Cultural Center (Macao), Die Glocke (Bremen), Elbphilharmonie (Hamburg), Philharmonie (Paris), Suntory Hall (Tokyo), Opera City (Tokyo), Palau de la Música Catalana (Barcelona), Grosses Festspielhaus/Kleines Festspielhaus (Haus für Mozart)/Felsenreitschule (Salzburg) … and so many others.