Franz Vitzthum

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Franz Vitzthum (* 1973 in Weiden in the Upper Palatinate ) is a German countertenor .

Life

Franz Vitzthum was born in Weiden in the Upper Palatinate . He grew up in Lennesrieth near Waldthurn in a musical family. His father played tuba , his sisters played dulcimer . Vitzthum first came into contact with folk music . From the fourth grade he lived in the catholic boarding school of the Regensburger Domspatzen . There he learned to play the violin .

After graduating from high school , he first studied German and pedagogy . He then studied singing with Kai Wessel at the Cologne University of Music until 2007 . He developed from a boy soprano via a tenor to a countertenor in the pitch of a deep mezzo-soprano .

Vitzthum was discovered at a workshop of the “ Hilliard Ensemble ” in Great Britain. In 2001 he was a co-founder of the “ Stimmwerck ” ensemble ; that was dedicated to the music of the Renaissance . From 2005 to 2018 the "Stimmwercktage" took place annually on the Adlersberg near Regensburg . The “Stimmwercktage” were a small festival with international guests.

His third solo CD with lute songs from the Reformation was released in 2017 . Vitzthum is dedicated to renaissance and baroque music ; but also contemporary music. The composer Max Bockschäfer - who participated in the "Stimmwerckage" in 2017 as "Composer in Residence" - has dedicated several compositions to him. In 2017 Vitzthum took part in the “Baroque Investival” in Finland.

Franz Vitzthum lives with his wife and two children near Heidelberg .

Discography (selection)

  • 2009: Ye sacred Muses - Music from the House of Tudor
  • 2009: I want to go in peace. Sacred music for countertenor and viol consort
  • 2012: Himmels-Lieder - songs and cantatas of the German baroque
  • 2015: Luther's Lute
  • 2016: Luther and Music
  • 2020: The Life. The Light. The Way. Handel. Sacred Arias. Christophorus CHR 77441

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Susanne Döring in: Darmstädter Echo , Wednesday, August 16, 2017, p. 23.
personal data
SURNAME Vitzthum, Franz
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German countertenor
DATE OF BIRTH 1973
PLACE OF BIRTH Willows in the Upper Palatinate