The German singer Torsten Kerl is one of the most sought-after Heldentenors in the world and has been seen on the most important stages in the world, including the Wiener Staatsoper, Metropolitan Opera New York, Deutsche Oper Berlin, San Francisco Opera, Royal Opera House Covent Garden, Semperoper Dresden, Scala di Milano, New National Theatre Tokyo, Nederlandse Opera Amsterdam, Bayerische Staatsoper Munich, Gran Teatro del Liceo Barcelona, Palau de les Arts Valencia, Opéra National de Paris (Bastille), Châtelet Paris, Opéra du Lyon, Staatsoper Hamburg, Teatro Carlo Felice Genova, Den Norske Opera Oslo, Opera de Munt Brussels, and the Maggio Musicale Fiorentino.
Torsten Kerl first began his musical career as an orchestra musician and instrumental soloist on the oboe, then switched to singing and quickly became a prizewinner of several competitions and scholarships. In 2000 he won a Grammy Award for Best International Opera Recording of the Year.
In the 2019/20 season he sang Waldemar in Schönberg’s Gurrelieder at the Helsinki Festival under the baton of Susanna Mälkki, in the Kawasaki Symphony Hall with the Tokyo Symphony Orchestra under the baton of Jonathan Nott and in the Philharmonie Essen. He also appeared in the Philharmonie Berlin and in the Sala a Palatului Bucharest as Kaiser in a concert version of Strauss’s Die Frau ohne Schatten with the Rundfunkorchester Berlin under the baton of Vladimir Jurowski. Also under the baton of M° Jurowski he sang Siegfried in the Royal Festival Hall in London with the London Philharmonic Orchestra.
In the 2018/19 season, opera projects led him to the Théâtre du Capitole in Toulouse as Paul in Die tote Stadt, as Tannhäuser to the New National Theatre Tokyo, and as Rienzi to the Deutsche Oper Berlin. In concert he sang Siegmund with the Antwerp Symphony Orchestra under the baton of Edo de Waart.
In the season 2017/18 he performed as Max in Der Freischütz at the New National Theatre in Tokyo and at the Semperoper Dresden. Furthermore he sang the leading role in Wagner's Siegfried and Götterdämmerung in Odense as well as at the Staatstheater Karlsruhe. At the Enescu Festival he sang Albrecht von Brandenburg in Hindemith’s Mathis der Maler under the baton of Lawrence Foster. As a concert singer he sang Mahler’s Lied von der Erde in Berlin and Wrocław, Waldemar in Schönberg’s Gurrelieder in Aarhus and Berlin, and in Beethoven’s 9th Symphony in several renowned European concert halls.
Torsten Kerl has a wide repertoire and is one of the few tenors who are regularly interpreting all the big Wagner parts like Erik, Parsifal, Lohengrin, Tannhäuser, Loge, Siegmund, Tristan, Rienzi, and both Siegfrieds. Furthermore, he was repeatedly seen as Max (Der Freischütz), Paul (Die tote Stadt), Florestan (Fidelio), Pedro (Tiefland), Bacchus (Ariadne auf Naxos), and Kaiser (Die Frau ohne Schatten). Other important roles are Don José (Carmen), Samson (Samson et Dalila), Äneas (Les Troyens), Grigori (Boris Godunov), Egyptian Pharaoh (Moses), Vladimir Igorevitch (Prince Igor), Herrmann (Queen of Spades), Steva (Jenůfa), Otello (Otello), and Dick Johnson (La fanciulla del West).
He is a permanent guest at international Opera Festivals like the Bayreuther Festspiele (Tannhäuser, Der fliegende Holländer, Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg), the Salzburger Festspiele (Mozart's Requiem, Die Liebe der Danae, and Die tote Stadt), the Edinburgh Festival, the Glyndebourne Festival, and the Opera Festival in Savonlinna in Finland.
Beyond that Kerl is regularly working with the most important orchestras in the world like the Wiener Philharmoniker, London Philharmonic Orchestra, London Symphony Orchestra, Berliner Philharmoniker, Amsterdam Cocertgebouw Orchestra, Orchestre de Radio France, Dresdner Staatskapelle, and the Accademia di Santa Cecilia di Roma.
