Up-and-coming classical singer
“If you are going to be away from England, Munich is the city to be,” says Konrad Jarnot, one of the hot, up-and-coming classical singers of his generation. Two years ago, the 29-year-old baritone from Brighton finished his training at London’s Guildhall School of Music and Drama and went on to complete his studies with Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau, one of Germany’s greatest singers of the postwar era. The stiff competition in the English music world and the fact that Germany has many more opera houses and concert halls than England led to Jarnot’s decision to try his luck on the mainland. Relocating to Munich seems to have been a smart career move — the singer won the first prize of the acclaimed International ARD Music Competition last fall. “It has certainly helped,” admits Jarnot modestly. “People know who I am and they might listen more closely.” Local audiences will certainly be all ears when the singer, who is equally at home with opera, oratorio and Lieder, performs Schubert’s Die schöne Müllerin at the Gasteig on February 2. His enthusiasm for music is infectious — “it is screaming at you to be sung,” says Jarnot of Schubert. This spring, Jarnot will also record his first CD at the Bayerischer Rundfunk. A rising star, Jarnot is certainly a man you’ll be happy to say raised his voice to you.
