A philosopher and medical doctor, he studied singing with Paul Kuen and Raimund Grumbach. He was also a student of opera school at Münchener Hochschule für Musik, where he sang the part of Papageno in The Magic Flute by Mozart under the baton of Sir Colin Davis. At the same time, together with Gerold Huber, he took his vocal training with Helmut Deutsch. He participated in master courses run by Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau, Elisabeth Schwarzkopf and Inge Borkh. Also with Gerold Huber, he received the prestigious award of the German phonographic industry, Echo Klassik 2002 in the field of song, for the recording of Schubert’s Winterreise.
After he was awarded Prix International Pro Musicis Paris/New York 1998, he made his singing debuts in New York’s Carnegie Hall and during Schubertiada in Feldkirch, where he is now among the core performers. His debut in London’s Wigmore Hall in the duo recital with Edith Mathis followed soon afterwards. In 2000, he and Gerold Huber opened Schubertiada in Vilabertran with Schwanengesang; his solo debut in Wigmore Hall took place in the same year, followed in early 2001 by his debuts in Alte Oper Frankfurt, Concertgebouw in Amsterdam and during Schwetzinger Festspiele. Also in 2001, he was enthusiastically received during his debut in Frick Collection in New York and in Musée d'Orsay in Paris; he was also hosted again in Wigmore Hall, this time invited by the BBC to perform Schwanengesang. The duo performance evenings with Sibylla Rubens and Irwin Gage brought him to Stuttgart, Dortmund, as well as to Rheingau-Musik Festival. He has also been invited to hold song evenings in Tonhalle in Düsseldorf, in Amsterdam, Wellington, Dresden, Graz, Madrid, Bilbao, Gewandhaus in Leipzig, Cheltenham Festival and again in London, during Schwetzinger Festspiele and Schubertiada in Schwarzenberg.
The artist could be heard singing during concerts with Wiener Philharmoniker conducted by Helmuth Rilling. In six stage performances of Bach’s St John Passion under the baton of Christophe Rousset, he sang with Orchestra Teatro Regio Torino (2001). Soon he made his debut in St Matthew Passion with Los Angeles Philharmonic Orchestra. He also appeared in Monologues from Everyman by Frank Martin with the Dresden Philharmonic conducted by Marek Janowski. After the concerts with Wiener Hofmusikkapelle under the baton of Sir Neville Marriner the press hailed him as a “discovery” and after the concerts with Hyperion-Ensemble (Mahler’s Songs of a Wayfarer) in Salzburger Stiftung Mozarteum he was deemed “a new star.” What followed were concerts in Leipzig with Gewandhausorchester under Herbert Blomstedt and at Bonner Beethovenfest with WDR Sinfonieorchester conducted by Manfred Honeck, the European tour with Trevor Pinnock (Christmas Oratorio), and the appearances in Bach’s Mass in B Minor with the Symphony Orchestra RAI Turin under Jeffrey Tate, in Brahms’s Requiem and then in Bach’s St Matthew Passion with Beethovenhalle Bonn Orchestra under Simone Young. In the next planned tour the artist will appear with Concentus Musicus Wien under the baton of Nikolaus Harnoncourt in Haydn’s The Creation (Vienna, Linz, Lucerne, London).
In 1998-2000 Christian Gerhaher had a contract with Stadttheater Würzburg. In the production of Così fan tutte by Hengelbrock in Baden-Badener Festspielhaus he sang the part of Guglielmo. In the new staging of The Magic Flute in Münchener Gärtnerplatztheater he played the role of Papageno. In 2002, he took part in the production of the disc of Cappella Coloniensis des WDR, recording Weber’s Marksman with Magic Bullets under Bruno Weil. During Schwetzinger Festspielen he appeared in The Magic Flute staged by Achim Freyer and conducted by Thomas Hengelbrock; in the same staging, he also sang the part of Papageno in Straßburger Oper. For the autumn 2003 he has been engaged by Gérard Mortier to play the same role at Ruhr-Triennale.