Siegfried Lorenz

Siegfried Lorenz (; 30 August 1945 – 24 August 2024) was a German baritone who performed opera, oratorio and Lied. A member of the Komische Oper Berlin and later the Berlin State Opera, he made award-winning recordings and appeared as a guest internationally. He was also an academic voice teacher at the Musikhochschule Hamburg and the Universität der Künste Berlin.

Life and career Born in Berlin on 30 August 1945, Lorenz studied voice in his hometown at the Hochschule für Musik "Hanns Eisler" from 1964 to 1969, where he was a master student of Alois Orth. After receiving several prizes at international singing competitions, Lorenz was engaged as a lyrical baritone at the Komische Oper Berlin by Walter Felsenstein in 1969. In 1973, he became the first vocal soloist at the Gewandhaus in Leipzig, a position which Kurt Masur created for him. He performed and recorded several cantatas by Johann Sebastian Bach and became known as a Lied singer. His recordings of songs by Franz Schubert received several awards. Recordings of Schubert songs between 1974 and 1987 were combined to form a collection covering 151 of his songs. A reviewer wrote that Lorenz "penetrated Schubert's songs for many years and this eight-CD box is the result of assiduous study and a long-term plan".

Lorenz recorded the role of Beckmesser in Wagner's Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg, alongside Ben Heppner, Cheryl Studer and Bernd Weikl, conducted by Wolfgang Sawallisch; this recording was nominated as the Best Opera Recording at the 1994 Grammy Awards. He recorded Bach's solo cantatas for bass, Ich will den Kreuzstab gerne tragen and Ich habe genug, with the Neues Bachisches Collegium Musicum conducted by Max Pommer, as well as orchestral works by Mahler including Lieder eines fahrenden Gesellen conducted by Günther Herbig and Fünf Lieder nach Friedrich Rückert with the Staatskapelle Berlin conducted by Otmar Suitner. He was appointed professor in 1982, and taught from 2001 to 2003 at the Musikhochschule Hamburg, and from October 2003 at the Universität der Künste Berlin.

Awards

1996 Preis der Deutschen Schallplattenkritik for Hindemith's Das Unaufhörliche