Blochwitz, Hans Peter
Blochwitz, Hans Peter
Blochwitz, Hans Peter, n German tenor; b. Gar-misch- Partenkirchen, Sept. 28, 1949. He received an engineering degree in computer science; after singing in amateur choruses and occasional concerts, he pursued a vocal career. In 1984 he made his operatic debut as Lensky at the Frankfurt am Main Opera; then sang in Brussels, Geneva, Hamburg, Milan, and Vienna. In 1987 he made his U.S. debut as the Evangelist in Bach’s St. Matthew Passion with Solti and the Chicago Sym. Orch. In 1989 he made his first appearance at London’s Covent Garden as Mozart’s Ferrando, and that same year made his U.S. operatic debut in San Francisco as Mozart’s Idamanto. On Sept. 27, 1990, he appeared as Don Ottavio at his debut at the Metropolitan Opera in N.Y., and the following month made his U.S. recital debut in La Jolla, Calif.; subsequently sang in opera and concert on both sides of the Atlantic. In 1993 he was a soloist in Beethoven’s Ninth Sym. at the London Promenade Concerts. He was engaged to sing the title role in Henze’s Der Junge Lord in Munich in 1995. His impressive oratorio and concert repertoire ranges from Bach and Handel to Zemlinsky and Britten, with a noteworthy regard for the lieder of Schubert and Schumann. Among his operatic roles are Mozart’s Tito, Tamino, and Belmonte, as well as Rossini’s Count Almaviva and Donizetti’s Nemorino.
—Nicolas Slonimsky/Laura Kuhn/Dennis McIntire