German tenor Maximilian Schmitt discovered his passion for music at a very early age, as a member of the Regensburg Cathedral Choir. He continued his studies with Professor Anke Eggers at Berlin’s University of the Arts and Roland Hermann. In 2005 and 2006, he was a member of the young ensemble at the Bavarian State Opera in Munich.
Maximilian gained his first stage experience as a member of Munich’s Opera Studios, before joining the ensemble at Mannheim’s National Theatre for four years. While there, he starred as David in Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg and Lensky in Eugene Onegin, and in various Mozart roles such as Tamino, Don Ottavio, Belmonte and Ferrando, before closing his time in Mannheim with the title role from Mozart’s La Clemenza di Tito in 2012. The same year, he made his debut as Tamino at the Dutch National Opera in Amsterdam in Simon McBurney’s celebrated production under the baton of Marc Albrecht. In René Jacobs’ production of Mozart’s The Abduction from the Seraglio with Berlin’s Academy for Ancient Music, he can be heard as Belmonte (harmonia mundi, France). In 2016, Maximilian Schmitt made his debut in Mozart´s Idomeneo, at the Opéra National du Rhin in Strasbourg, followed by his debut at the Vienna State Opera as Don Ottavio and his debut at La Scala in Milan, this time as Pedrillo in Mozart’s The Abduction from the Seraglio under Zubin Mehta.
In addition to his passion for opera, Maximilian Schmitt is also sought-after concert singer. His widely-ranged repertoire stretches from Mozart and Monteverdi to Mendelssohn, Mahler and Britten. He has worked with conductors such as Franz Welser-Möst, Claudio Abbado, Daniel Harding, Thomas Hengelbrock, Fabio Luisi, Andres Orozco-Estrada, Trevor Pinnock, René Jacobs and Robin Ticciati. Also, a close partnership with Philippe Herreweghe allows Maximilian Schmitt to consistently display his wide concert repertoire. Maximilian Schmitt has worked with orchestras such as Berlin’s Academy for Ancient Music, Zurich’s Tonhalle Orchestra, the Cleveland Orchestra and Leipzig’s Gewandhaus Orchestra, the Symphony Orchestra of Bayerischer Rundfunk, the Vienna Symphony, BBC Symphony Orchestra and the Danish National Symphony Orchestra. Maximilian Schmitt is a regular guest at the Orchestre de Paris, Ensemble orchestral de Paris and Orchestre National de France and Festivals such as Lucerne Festival or Schubertiade Schwarzenberg/Hohenems.
Well known as a Lied singer, Maximilian Schmitt has already performed at Amsterdam’s Concertgebouw, the Heidelberger Frühling, Cologne’s Philharmonie and Tonhalle Düsseldorf together with his accompanist Gerold Huber. Ever since his debut at London’s Wigmore Hall, Maximilian Schmitt has been regularly invited back. In the 2017/18 season he again can be heard with a Lied programme at the prestigious concert hall in London.
Maximilian Schmitt is represented on a vast array of recordings: His debut solo album Träumend wandle ich bei Tag (songs by Robert and Clara Schumann) and Schubert’s Die schöne Müllerin were both released with Oehms Classics. Furthermore, he recorded Haydn’s The Creation (Baroque Orchestra Freiburg/René Jacobs/harmonia mundi, France), Bach’s St Matthew Passion (Gewandhaus Orchestra/Riccardo Chailly/DECCA; BR Choir/Cologne Concerto/Peter Dijsktra/BR Klassik), Dvorak’s Stabat mater/Requiem and Strawinsky’s Threni – Requiem Canticles (Royal Flemish Orchestra/Philippe Herreweghe/PHI), and Haydn’s The Creation and The Seasons (Orchestre des Champs Elysées/Philippe Herreweghe/PHI) and Bach’s Christmas Oratorio on DVD (Academy for Ancient Music Berlin/BR Choir/Peter Dijkstra/BR Klassik).
In 2016, Maximilian released his latest album with German romantic arias Wie freundlich strahlt der Tag (WDR Symphony Orchestra/Patrick Lange/Oehms).
