One of the most eminent singers of the young generation, René Pape acquired musical education in his hometown of Dresden. Following the debut with Berliner Staatsoper in 1988, he has been a member of the ensemble. The roles he sang include Rocco, King Mark, King Henry, Pogner, Fasolt, Hunding, Sarastro, Figaro, nd Leporello – all of them in new productions conducted by Daniel Barenboim – and had his debut as in the part of Don Giovanni in 2002. He sang also the part of Ramfis under Zubin Mehta.
René Pape performed in all major European opera stages, and visited Japan (concert tours with Metropolitan New York and Berliner Staatsoper) and the US. He performs regularly as a guest with New York’s Metropolitan Opera, where he is contracted to perform up to the season 2009/2010. He may be admired on the stages of the Lyric Opera of Chicago, at the San Francisco Opera (numerous productions) and also in Bayreuth, Glyndebourne, Luzern, the Munich Opera, Orange, and St Petersburg (White Nights Festival), and at the Salzburg and Verbier festivals.
René Pape feels as much at home on concert stages as when performing in the world’s major concert halls, in Tokyo, Madrid, Londyn, Florence (Maggio Musicale), New York (New York Philharmonic under Sir Colin Davis in Verdi’s Requiem and under Lorin Maazel and Kurt Masur in Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony), Chicago (Chicago Symphony, Sir George Solti and Daniel Barenboim), Paris (Orchestre de Paris, Daniel Barenboim and Semyon Bychkov), and Philadelphia (Philadelphia Orchestra, Wolfgang Sawallisch). In concert repertoire he has been accompanied by the Berliner Philharmoniker, Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra, Bavarian Opera (Zubin Mehta), Muenchner Philharmoniker, and Boston Symphony.
René Pape won two Grammy Awards and the title of Musical America magazine’s Vocalist of the year 2002.
He appears in television productions and DVD recordings; he recorded for BMG, EMI, DGG, and TELDEC (under Daniel Barenboim, Sir Colin Davis, James Levine, Sir Georg Solti, and Antonio Pappano), in a television portrait prepared for ARTE and other German channels, and in the film productions of the Magic Flute (Sarastro and the Speaker of the Temple) directed by Kenneth Branagh.