Studies
Swiss tenor Jörg Dürmüller studied violin and voice at the Winterthur Conservatoire in Switzerland, and continued his voice studies at the Academy of Music and Theatre in Hamburg, attending master classes with Christa Ludwig and Hermann Prey.
Jörg Dürmüller has gained an outstanding reputation as a concert singer, particularly through the role of Evangelist in the J.S. Bach passions. He has performed in the major concert halls and most renowned festivals of the world, including the Royal Albert Hall in London (BBC Proms), the Vienna Musikverein, the Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia in Rome, the Auditorio Nacional de España in Madrid, the Théâtre des Champs-Elysées and the Théâtre du Châtelet in Paris, the Filarmonia São Paulo, the Summer Festival Tokyo, the Schwetzinger Festspiele, the Bach-Fest in Leipzig and the Epidaurus Festival in Athens, to name but a few.
In 2006, he toured the USA under Ton Koopman in a series of concerts leading to New York’s Carnegie Hall. In 2008, Jörg Dürmüller returned to New York where he sang several concerts of Handel’s „Messiah“ with the New York Philharmonic Orchestra. Other projects in 2009 and 2010 include tours with Ton Koopman and the Amsterdam Baroque Orchestra & Choir, concerts with the Tonhalle Orchester Zurich, the Mozarteumorchester Salzburg, the Gewandhausorchester Leipzig under Riccardo Chailly as well as concerts under Michel Corboz, Helmuth Rilling, Enoch zu Guttenberg and Adam Fischer (title role in Haydn’s „Orfeus“ with the Danish Radio Sinfonietta in Copenhagen).
Beginnings and Stations
Jörg’s first operatic engagements led him to Bielefeld and Brunswick under the artistic directorship of Brigitte Fassbaender; he subsequently became a member of the Vienna Volksoper ensemble, where he enjoyed great success in various roles including Tamino („The Magic Flute“), Don Ottavio („Don Giovanni“), and Don Ramiro („La Cenerentola“). As a freelance artist, Jörg Dürmüller has appeared frequently as guest soloist at the Opera Comique Berlin, in roles such as Ferrando in Mozart’s „Così fan Tutte“ and Bajazete in Handel’s „Tamerlano“, directed by David Alden. Other guest appearances led him to the opera houses of Hamburg, Montpellier, Leipzig, Cologne, Sevilla, Strasbourg and the Teatro Real in Madrid.
In 2006, he made a very successful appearance as Belmonte at the Schleswig-Holstein Music Festival under Alessandro de Marchi, who subsequently engaged Jörg for concerts and a CD production of Handel’s „Il Trionfo del Tempo“. In 2007, Jörg sang the role of Don Ottavio in „Don Giovanni“ at the International Herrenchiemsee Festival under Enoch zu Guttenberg (TV recording by BR), to which he returned as Tamino in 2010. In 2008, he debuted as Narraboth at the Teatro Regio di Torino, a part which he reprised later the same year in a concert version with the BBC Philharmonic Orchestra in Manchester. He made his stage debut as Erik in „The Flying Dutchman“ at the Burgplatz-Festival 2008 run by the Brunswick State Theatre and to great acclaim repeated the role in 2009 at the Kassel State Theatre.
In the field opera and concert work, Jörg Dürmüller has performed under well-renowned conductors such as Howard Arman, Herbert Blomstedt, Bertrand De Billy, Dennis Russell Davies, Christoph Eschenbach, Diego Fasolis, Reinhard Goebel, Thomas Hengelbrock, Christopher Hogwood, Michael Hofstetter, René Jacobs, Vaclav Neumann, Christof Prick, Helmuth Rilling, Peter Schreier, Jan Willem de Vriend, Sebastian Weigle, Bruno Weil, Simone Young and Hans Zender.
Awards and Critical Acclaim
Vocally, Jörg Dürmüller posesses the ability to span a remarkably wide range of repetoire. After hearing him as Georg (Erik) in the first recording of Richard Wagner’s original 1841 version of „The Flying Dutchman“ under Bruno Weil (2004), which was met with great critical acclaim by the specialist music journals, music journalist Ludwig Robeller wrote:
„Jörg Dürmüller, one of the stars of the ancient-music-scene, sang with a splendid technique and articulation, marvellously pure high pitch – a brilliant performance of the first order, the best Erik I have ever heard.“
Other of his many highly acclaimed and successful performances include the 2005 DVD- and CD-recording of J.S. Bach’s „St. Matthew Passion“ in the part of the Evangelist under the baton of Ton Koopman, and the 2007 recording of Ernst Krenek’s opera „Sardakai“ with the Berlin Radio Symphony Orchestra, in which Jörg sang the leading male role of Carlo, for which he was honoured with the distinguished ECHO-Award. The CD production of Franz von Suppé’s „Die schöne Galathée“ under Bruno Weil with Jörg in the leading role of Pygmalion was awarded the Preis der Deutschen Schallplattenkritik.
In addition to his numerous opera and concert engagements, Jörg Dürmüller was appointed professor for voice at the conservatory of Fribourg in 2010. Since 2019 he is Professor for Baroque Music and German Lied at the Musicakademy Tallinn, Estonia.