Helmut Holzapfel (born 4 December 1941) is a South-African operatic tenor.
Born in Robertson, Holzapfel, son of a choirmaster and a singer, he studied music at the Stellenbosch University in South Africa and at the University of Music and Performing Arts Vienna with Erik Werba. He made his stage debut at the age of 21 in Cape Town as Don Ottavio in Don Giovanni , but only as a replacement.
He had his first permanent engagement at the Stadttheater Klagenfurt from 1971 to 1972. From 1972 to 1977, he worked at the Tiroler Landestheater Innsbruck, and since 1977 he has been a member of the Staatstheater Stuttgart. [1] [2]
He sang mainly parts from the feature and character roles such as David in Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg , Pedrillo in Die Entführung aus dem Serail , Basilio in Le nozze di Figaro , Valzacchi in Der Rosenkavalier . Also lyrical roles such as Count Almaviva in Il barbiere di Siviglia , Ferrando in Così fan tutte and Fenton in Verdi's Falstaff were part of his repertoire. [3] [4]
On 3 October 1981 he sang princess Arjuna in the German premiere of the opera Satyagraha by Philip Glass.
He also performed as a lieder singer at the Salzburg Mozartwoche in 1976 and on a major tour of South America in 1983 (appearances in Buenos Aires, Santiago de Chile, Montevideo, Rio de Janeiro, São Paulo).
In 1992, he received his doctorate with a thesis on the South African song composer Stephanus le Roux Marais. [1]
A tenor is a type of classical male singing voice whose vocal range lies between the countertenor and baritone voice types. It is the highest male chest voice type. The tenor's vocal range extends up to C5. The low extreme for tenors is widely defined to be B2, though some roles include an A♭2 (two A♭s below middle C). At the highest extreme, some tenors can sing up to the second F above middle C (F5). The tenor voice type is generally divided into the leggero tenor, lyric tenor, spinto tenor, dramatic tenor, heldentenor, and tenor buffo or spieltenor.
A baritone is a type of classical male singing voice whose vocal range lies between the bass and the tenor voice-types. The term originates from the Greek βαρύτονος (barýtonos), meaning "heavy sounding". Composers typically write music for this voice in the range from the second F below middle C to the F above middle C (i.e. F2–F4) in choral music, and from the second A below middle C to the A above middle C (A2 to A4) in operatic music, but the range can extend at either end. Subtypes of baritone include the baryton-Martin baritone (light baritone), lyric baritone, Kavalierbariton, Verdi baritone, dramatic baritone, baryton-noble baritone, and the bass-baritone.
Josep Maria Carreras Coll, better known as José Carreras, is a Spanish operatic tenor who is particularly known for his performances in the operas of Donizetti, Verdi and Puccini.
Harry Gustaf Nikolai Gädda, known professionally as Nicolai Gedda, was a Swedish operatic tenor. Debuting in 1951, Gedda had a long and successful career in opera until the age of 77 in June 2003, when he made his final operatic recording. Skilled at languages, he performed operas in French, Russian, German, Italian, English, Czech and Swedish, as well as one in Latin. In January 1958, he created the part of Anatol in the world premiere of the American opera Vanessa at the Metropolitan Opera. Having made some two hundred recordings, Gedda is one of the most widely recorded opera singers in history. His singing is best known for its beauty of tone, vocal control, and musical perception.
Jonathan Stewart Vickers,, known professionally as Jon Vickers, was a Canadian heldentenor.
William Heddle Nash was an English lyric tenor who appeared in opera and oratorio. He made numerous recordings that are still available on CD reissues.
William Johns is an American tenor who sang leading roles in the opera houses of Europe and the United States in a career spanning more than 25 years. Several of his live performances in Germany and Italy during the 1970s have been preserved on CD, including the title roles in Alfano's Cyrano de Bergerac and Mercadante's Il bravo.
Durward Lely was a Scottish opera singer and actor. Although he had an extensive opera, concert and acting career, he is primarily remembered as the creator of five tenor roles in Gilbert and Sullivan's comic operas, including Nanki-Poo in The Mikado, for the D'Oyly Carte Opera Company.
Richard Cassilly was an American operatic tenor who had a major international opera career between 1954–90. Cassilly "was a mainstay in the heldentenor repertory in opera houses around the world for 30 years", and particularly excelled in Wagnerian roles like Tristan, Siegmund and Tannhäuser, and in dramatic parts that required both stamina and vocal weight, such as Giuseppe Verdi's Otello and Camille Saint-Saëns's Samson.
Antonio Pini-Corsi was an Italian operatic baritone of international renown. He possessed a ripe-toned voice of great flexibility and displayed tremendous skill at patter singing. Pini-Corsi participated in numerous operatic premieres, portraying on stage such characters as Ford in Giuseppe Verdi's Falstaff and Schaunard in Giacomo Puccini's La bohème. Part of the first generation of recorded musicians, Pini-Corsi was one of the finest buffo singers of his era.
Jonas Kaufmann is a German operatic tenor. He is best known for the versatility of his repertoire, performing a variety of opera roles in multiple languages as well as in recital. and in concert each season. Some of his standout roles include Don José in Carmen, Cavaradossi in Tosca, Maurizio in Adriana Lecouvreur, Don Alvaro in La forza del destino, the title role in Wagner's Parsifal, the title role in Werther, the title role in Don Carlos, Siegmund in Die Walküre, and the title role in Lohengrin. In 2014 The New York Times described Kaufmann as "a box-office draw, and... the most important, versatile tenor of his generation."
Murray Dickie OBE was a Scottish tenor opera singer and director, who established his career in England, Austria and Italy during the 1950s. In addition to his extensive stage work he was a prolific recording artist.
Giuseppe Cremonini was an Italian operatic tenor who had a prominent opera career in Europe and the United States during the last decade of the nineteenth century.
Maurice Stern is an American operatic tenor and sculptor. He graduated from the Eastman School of Music. He made his debut at the New York City Opera as The Emperor Altuom in Giacomo Puccini's Turandot, and received a laudatory solo review by Eric Salzman of The New York Times for that small role.
William Brown was an American operatic tenor.
Vasile Moldoveanu is a Romanian tenor.
Jacques le Roux is a South African tenor, concert and opera singer.
Levy Sekgapane is a South-African operatic tenor.
John Bröcheler is a Dutch operatic baritone who began as a concert singer, specialising in contemporary music such as the world premiere of Mauricio Kagel's Mare Nostrum. His appearance at De Nederlandse Opera in Donizetti's Maria Stuarda alongside Joan Sutherland was followed by an international operatic career, performing for example as Mandryka in Arabella by Richard Strauss, and again in world premieres such as Menotti's La Loca at the New York City Opera and the complete version of Henze's König Hirsch at the Staatsoper Stuttgart.
Kwangchul Youn is a South Korean operatic bass and academic voice teacher. He made an international career based in Germany, from 1994 to 2004 at the Berlin State Opera. He has performed leading roles at international opera houses and festivals, such as Gurnemanz in Parsifal at the Bayreuth Festival, Mephisto in Faust at the Vienna State Opera, and King Marke in Tristan und Isolde at the Metropolitan Opera.
Helmut Holzapfel (tenor)