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The German bass, Harald Stamm, was born in Frankfurt am Main and grew up in Bingen am Rhein. After leaving school he studied natural sciences and sports and taught in a secondary school for five years. In his spare time he studied singing with Franz Fehringer and he winning awards at the international Schubert Contest in Vienna (1967) and the VDMK - Opera Competition in Berlin (1968) encouraged him to change professions.
Harald Stamm's first opera engagement from 1968 to 1970 was in Gelsenkirchen; then the Staatstheater Kassel from 1970 to 1972; the Opernhaus Köln from 1972 to 1974. In 1973 he was engaged also in Frankfurt. Since 1973 he has been a regular member of the Hamburg State Opera. In 1975 he took part in the premiere of Bialas's Der gestiefelte Kater in Hamburg State Opera at Schwetzingen. From 1976 he sung numerous guest engagements at the Deutsche Oper in Berlin.
Harald Stamm was also under guest contract performance and has introduced his bass voice to many German and international opera houses such as Munich, the Staatsoper Berlin, Dresden, Düsseldorf, Frankfurt, Stuttgart, Staatsoper Vienna (Sarastro), Zürich (Zaccharia, Köing Marke, Sarastro), Tokyo (König Heinrich, Landgraf, König Marke, Sparafucile), Madrid (Enrico), Rome, Geneva, Lisbon, Barcelona, Copenhagen, Venice, etc. Festivals: Salzburg, Bregenz, Luzern, Verona, Savonlinna, Munich, Maffio Musicale Fiorentino and many others. In 1979 he made his debut at the Metropolitan Opera in New York, in the role he sung most: Sarastro in Die Zauberflöte. In 1985 he sang Antinous in Henze's version of Il ritorno d'Ulisse at Salzburg, and in 1987 he made his London's Covent Garden debut as Raimondo in Lucia. Later he sang also Orest at this opera house. In 1990 he sang Wagner's King Henry in Brussels and Lisbon.
Harald Stamm's repertoire includes most of the serious bass roles in German and Italian operas, with roles as Sarastro, W.A. Mozart's Bartolo, Rocco, Daland, King Mark, Hunding, Philip II, the Grand Inquisitor, Procida, Fiesco, Don Quichotte and Madruscht (Palestrina). He has also sung W.A. Mozart's Don Giovanni and Escamillo (Georges Bizet's Carmen). A fine actor, he has a resonant voice which is very strong in the lowest register.
Harald Stamm is also a celebrated oratorio and concert singer and has a particular love for Lieder. He frequently appeared in Europe’s most renowned concert venues and regularly performed on German radio and television, as well as on other European networks. Besides a large number of radio productions, he has produced 2 LP's with songs from Franz Liszt and Robert Franz, from Johannes Brahms, Wolf and Schubert. Lieder rectials in Germany, Finland, Poland, Portugal, Spain and Belgium are witnesses to his art of singing.
In 1988, the Senate of Hanseatic City of Hamburg appointed Harals Stamm "Kammersänger". In 1993, the Senate of Berlin appointed him voice professor at the Hcohschule der Künste. Harald Stamm summarized his wealth of experience in his voice instructions: "Powerfully relaxed singing". Published by the Thiasos publishing house in Darmstadt. He has been a member of DEBUT (a European Singing Competition) jury since 2004. |
