From pop singer to prophet

This summer, sensational bass-baritone Thomas Quasthoff comes to the Oregon Bach Festival for the sixth time since 1995. His four Festival concerts are his only U.S. appearances of the 2004 festival season.

With the reputation and the talent to sing anywhere (his stops this spring include New York, Berlin, Paris, and Vienna), why does the great singer come back to Eugene and the Festival, for such an extended engagement?

“In many other festivals you are more like a single artist,” he explained for an interview with Oregon Public Broadcasting. “Here, we are a family. This is what for me makes this absolutely one of the greatest festivals I know.”

On June 30 Quasthoff will serve up soulful jazz and pops in "Thomas Quasthoff's American Songbook" in the Hult Center. In his review of Quasthoff’s similar show in 2000, reviewer James McQuillen of The Oregonian compared his jazz singing to his world-renowned lieder, saying “his prodigious vocal abilities are as much on display.”

Quasthoff will live his belief in a Festival family as he pairs with pianist Gabriel Kahane (son of Jeffrey) and a combo of Festival orchestra players who will show their versatility with a different style of playing.

He jumps from Sinatra to Schubert for a song recital July 3 (repeated July 7) in Beall Hall: Die Schöne Müllerin, with pianist Justus Zeyen.

On July 11 Quasthoff joins Helmuth Rilling and the chorus and orchestra to sing the title role of Mendelssohn’s Elijah in the Festival finale.

Tickets for Festival concerts may be ordered beginning March 23.

For more about Thomas Quasthoff's 2004 travels, see his fan website.