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The Austrian tenor, Paul Schweinester, who is now based in Vienna, was born and raised in Innsbruck, the capital city of the Tyrol, where he also gained his first musical experiences as a solo singer for the Wiltener Sängerknaben. In the year 2009, he completed his first degree at the University of Music and performing Arts in Vienna in the concert discipline of singing with distinction and has since been studying Singing and Oratorio as a member of the class of Professor David Lutz. At present, his vocal coach is Professor Karlheinz Hanser. A study exchange programme at the Conservatorio di Musica Santa Cecilia in Rome resulted in additional essential impulses and consequently enriched his style of singing.
Paul Schweinester then acquired his first professional experience in 2007, when he played the third squire in Gustav Kuhn’s Parsifal at the Tiroler Festspiele Erl. Further important influences on his work were a CD recording of songs by E.W. Korngold for the Jewish Museum, a guest performance as Prince Yamadori in Puccini’s Madame Butterfly in Mumbai under Johannes Wildner and, within the framework of the Wiener Festwochen, the role of Romeo in an opera by G.A. Benda with (partly) new compositions by Ulrich Krah at the Vienna Schauspielhaus. The year 2009 brought roles as Don Ottavio in a production of W.A. Mozart’s Don Giovanni by the University of Vienna, and as Lechmere in Benjamin Britten’s Owen Wingrave, which was a great success at the Vienna Kammeroper. As a member of the Young Singers Project at Salzburg Festival 2012 he had opportunity to work with conductors such as Daniele Gatti and Ingo Metzmacher.
From 2009-2010 to 2012-2013 Paul Schweinester was a permanent member of the ensemble of the Wiener Volksoper, where his first season offered him the opportunity to further enlarge his repertoire by playing various roles, i.a. in Le Nozze di Figaro, and The Bartered Bride. In the course of the recent season, he, inter alia, already performed as Junker Spärlich (Slender) in O. Nicolai’s The Merry Wives of Windsor and as Pedrillio in W.A. Mozart’s Die Entführung aus dem Serail. In the summer of 2010, he appeared at the Reinsberg Festival as Damon in George Frideric Handel’s Acis and Galatea with the Orchester Wiener Akademie under Martin Haselböck.
Apart from the opera stage, Paul Schweinester sang the first time sing the Evangelist in J.S. Bach’s Christmas Oratorio (BWV 248) with the Wiltener Sängerknaben under the direction of Johannes Stecher; he also appeared as a tenor soloist in two concerts featuring cantatas by J.S. Bach in the frame of Bach-Kantaten Abonnement-Zyklus at Wiener Konzerthaus under the direction of Luca Pianca. Further engagements include the CD-recording of J.S. Bach’s Christmas Oratorio (BWV 248), Haydn’s Requiem in Vienna and Rossini’s Stabat Mater in Bregenz.
After his great personal success in the world premiere of the Cerha-opera Onkel Präsident at Munich's Prinzregententheater, Paul Schweinester sang as well the world premiere of Der Flaschengeist by Hiller in January 2014. Previously, he made his debut with the Orchestre des Pays de la Loire with the Great Mass in C minor by W.A. Mozart and returned to Vienna with selected Bach-Cantatas in the frame of Bach-Kantaten Abonnement-Zyklus at Wiener Konzerthaus. In June, the tenor made his debut as Brighella in Ariadne auf Naxos under the direction of Antonio Pappano at the Royal Opera House Covent Garden in London. Right after, he was engaged to sing Pedrillo in concert performances of Die Entführung aus dem Serail next to Rolando Villazón and Diana Damrau, under the direction of Yannick Nézet-Séguin and recorded by DG. Later in August he made his debut at Bregenzer Festspiele singing a concert performance of Der Schauspieldirektor.
At the beginning of the season 2014-2015 Paul Schweinester will make his debut at Haydn Festival Eisenstadt singing Haydn’s The Seasons. Afterwards he will have his debut at Opéra National de Paris as Pedrillo in a new production of Entführung aus dem Serail with Philippe Jordan conducting as well as his debut in Zimmermann’s Soldaten at Teatro alla Scala Milano. Concerts and recitals will bring him to NDR Hamburg, to Viennese Jeunesse Musicale, to Innsbruck and to the Festival Bogotá, where he will sing W.A. Mozart’s Mass c-minor and Requiem. In summer he will appear for the first time in a new production of Salzburg Festival 2015 singing Basilio in Nozze di Figaro under the baton of Christoph Eschenbach.
Future projects include hisn return to the Royal Opera House Covent Garden London, a concert tour with Orchester Wiener Akademie and Meistersinger-David at Opéra National de Paris. |
