The German bass-baritone, Ralf Ernst, began his musical career in the Knabenkantorei Wuppertaler Kurrende. Already as a boy soprano he joined in various opera productions and concerts as a soloist. He studied with Professor Reinhard Becker at the Musikhochschule Köln (1987-1991) and with Kurt Widmer at the Musikhochschule Basel (1991-1995). He also worked with Elisabeth Schwarzkopf, Hartmut Höll, Friedrich Gürtler, Burga Schwarzbach and Margreet Honig. He has won various singing competitions, such as the International Brahms Competition in Hamburg and the International Bach Competition in Leipzig. He is a scholar of the Richard-Wagner-Verbandes.
Ralf Ernst is a freelance singer since 1986. He works regularly together with Thomas Hengelbrock and Ton Koopman, among others. Opera productions, recitals and oratorios belong to his wide repertoire and flared lead him here around the globe. These include contemporary works and premieres by Mauricio Kagel, Wolfgang Rihm, Rudolf Kelterborn, Igor Stravinsky and Horge Pepi. He works together with conductors such Helmuth Rilling, András Schiff, Ivor Bolton, Peter Gülke, Jesper Christensen, Joshua Rifkin and many others. He has been as a member of Balthasar-Neumann-Chor (Director: Thomas Hengelbrock) since 2004; Amsterdam Baroque Choir (Director: Ton Koopman) since 2005; and Nederlands Kamerkoor since 2013.
|Ralf Ernst taught at Landeskonservatorium Vorarlberg in Feldkirch (September 1995-September 2002). He lives with his family in Southern Germany and teaches at the Musikhochschule Basel (since September 1997). |