Kurt Streit

Kurt Streit’s renown as a Mozart specialist has in recent years led him to further success in his broadening repertoire, encompassing works from composers such as Berg (Lulu at the Paris Opera), Britten (Death in Venice at Theater an der Wien), Pfitzner (Palestrina in Frankfurt), Janacek (Kat’a Kabanova in London, Amsterdam and Brussels, both tenor roles in Jenufa in Chicago and Amsterdam, From the House of the Dead at the Met), Wagner (Erik in Der Fliegende Hollaender in Barcelona and Munich and Loge in Das Rheingold in Frankfurt and Barcelona), Hindemith (Mathis der Maler), Berlioz (Les Troyens in Geneva, La Damnation de Faust in Madrid), Bizet (Carmen with Maestro Harnoncourt at the Styriarte Fesitval in Graz), Weber (Euryanthe in Brussels) and Beethoven (Fidelio in Vienna), all the while keeping his Mozart interpretations alive with the title roles in La Clemenza di Tito and Idomeneo. His specialities also include Handel (Semele and Tamerlano at the Royal Opera, Covent Garden, Jephtha and Theodora with Concentus Musicus in Vienna’s Musikverein, Rodelinda in Paris, Vienna and Glyndebourne, Partenope in Chicago and in Vienna, recorded for Chandos) and Monteverdi—both Il Ritorno d'Ulysse in Patria and L'Incoronazione di Poppea with appearances in Berlin, Zurich and Los Angeles.

Considered one of the world’s best Mozart interpreters throughout his career, Kurt Streit has performed Die Zauberflöte in 23 different productions around the world (over 150 performances) and Idomeneo in eight different productions—in the opera houses of Naples, Vienna, Madrid, London, San Francisco and others. Performing in numerous productions of Don Giovanni, Così fan tutte and Die Entführung aus dem Serail, Streit has also featured in these and earlier works of Mozart in opera houses such as The Metropolitan Opera in New York, The Vienna State Opera, The Royal Opera House, Covent Garden in London, La Scala in Milan, both the Bastille and the Grand Opera in Paris, Teatro Real and the Zarzuela in Madrid, and on the prestigious stages of San Francisco, Tokyo, Aix-en-Provence, Chicago, Munich, Berlin, Rome and Salzburg.

In concert and opera, Streit has appeared with the world’s foremost conductors including Harnoncourt (with whom he works regularly), Pappano, Muti, Rattle, Christie, Bolton, Ozawa, Mehta, Maazel, with the noted symphony orchestras of Boston, Chicago, Los Angeles, St. Petersburg, Berlin, Vienna, Paris, Boston, Florence, Stockholm, and all four of London’s major orchestras.

A two-time Grammy nominee (Brahms Liebeslieder-Walzer with EMI and Bach: Canatatas with Harmonia Mundi), Kurt Streit can be seen and heard on Warner Music’s DVD of Rodelinda from Glyndebourne and Dynamic’s DVD of Idomeneo from Naples. His discography includes two complete recordings of Così fan tutte with Daniel Barenboim (Erato) and with Sir Simon Rattle (EMI), Die Zauberflöte (L'Oiseau-Lyre), Die Entführung aus dem Serail (Sony Classical), as well as Cherubini’s Mass in D-minor with Riccardo Muti (EMI) and Franz Schmidt’s Das Buch mit Sieben Siegeln with Nikolaus Harnoncourt conducting the Vienna Philharmonic (Teldec). More recently he recorded Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony with Sir Simon Rattle and the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra (EMI) and the Mozart Requiem with Nikolaus Harnoncourt and Concentus Musicus (BMG).