BIOGRAPHY
Forumopera; Charles Siegel (November 2023)
Sophistication and youthfulness - nothing seems impossible to him. The voice is perhaps the most beautiful of all his qualities. It has depth, suppleness, projection, balance, brilliance, a sex appeal like Don Giovanni; something conquering, chivalrous, cavalier.
Following his First Prize triumph at the 2018 Queen Elisabeth Competition, Samuel Hasselhorn has quickly establishedhimself internationally as a versatile artist who is equally at home in the genres of opera, Lied, and oratorio. The current 2024/25 season is marked by high-profile projects, includinghis role debut as Tchaikovsky's Eugene Onegin and a newproduction of Mozart's Magic Flute (Papageno) at theStaatstheater Nürnberg, of which he is a member of theensemble. Furthermore he will return to the Deutsche Oper Berlin (Wolfram in Wagner's Tannhäuser) and appear in a newproduction of Richard Strauss' Die Schweigsame Frau (Barbier Schneidebart) under the musical direction ofChristian Thielemann at the Staatsoper Berlin. He will also take part in a staged production of Schumann's Das Paradies und die Peri with the Insula Orchestra, with performances in Paris and at the Musikverein Wien. Concerts will take him tohis debut with the Atlanta Symphony (Mahler's songs fromDes Knaben Wunderhorn), to Metz, Barcelona, Vienna andBudapest as part of a tour with the Collegium Vocale Gent / Orchestre des Champs-Élysées under the direction of Philippe Herreweghe (Beethoven's Missa in C), to Oviedo (Brahms' Requiem), to the Beethovenfest Warsaw (Hindemith's LilacsRequiem) and to Hannover (Britten's War Requiem). He appears in recitals in Brussels, Jerusalem, Tel Aviv, Vernier, Vevey, Metz, Toulouse, Marseille, at the SchubertiadeVilabertran in Barcelona and at the Heidelberger Frühling.
Hasselhorn was a permanent member of the Vienna State Opera‘s ensemble for two years, where he interpreted the title role in Don Giovanni, Figaro (Il barbiere di Siviglia), Belcore(L'elisir d'amore), Harlequin (Ariadne auf Naxos), Schaunard(La Bohème) among other roles. At the Staatstheater Nuremberg, in addition to numerous appearances in hisregular repertoire (e.g. in a new production as Don Giovanni and as Conte / Le Nozze di Figaro), he made his role debuts in the title role of Hindemith’s Mathis der Maler, as Pelléas in Debussy's Pelléas et Mélisande under the direction of Joana Mallwitz and as Ford in Verdi's Falstaff. Guest engagementshave already taken him to the Berlin State Opera (title role in Rossini’s Il barbiere di Siviglia, Conte/Le Nozze di Figaro under the baton of Daniel Barenboim), the Deutsche Oper Berlin (Wolfram), the Frankfurt opera (also Wolfram), La Scala Milan (Harlequin/Ariadne auf Naxos), the GulbenkianOrchestra in Lisbon (Guglielmo/Così fan tutte) and the Opéra national de Paris in a ballet production of Mahler's Lieder eines fahrenden Gesellen.
On the concert stage, Samuel Hasselhorn has appeared at thePhilharmonie in Munich, the Hessischer Rundfunk,Konzerthaus Wien, Konzerthaus Berlin, the Bozar in Brussels, the Tonhalle in Zurich, the Barbican Hall in London, thePhilharmonie in Luxembourg, the Theater an der Wien, andthe Ludwigsburg Schlossfestspiele. He made his debut withthe Vienna Symphony Orchestra in the Golden Hall of theMusikverein Vienna with Britten's War Requiem conducted byIvor Bolton, and sang the Christmas Oratorio on tour underLaurence Equilbey in Paris, Aix en Provence, and Budapest.
Samuel Hasselhorn is in particular demand and esteemedinternationally as a lied recitalist. He regularly works withrenowned pianists such as Helmut Deutsch, Malcolm Martineau, Ammiel Bushakevitz, Julien Libeer, Philippe Cassard or Joseph Middleton. Recitals have taken him to theHamburg State Opera, the Hugo Wolf Academy in Stuttgart, the Pierre Boulez hall in Berin, the Frankfurt opera, theLudwigsburg Schlossfestspiele, the Theater an der Wien, theSchubertiade Vilabertran in Barcelona, Wigmore Hall in London, Camerata Musica Cambridge, the Oxford International Song Festival, and the Suntory Hall in Tokyo, among others.
Samuel Hasselhorn is a prize winner of numerouscompetitions and studied at the Hannover University ofMusic, Drama and Media with Prof. Marina Sandel and at theConservatoire National Supérieur de la Musique et de Dansede Paris with Malcolm Walker. He is currently under the vocalguidance of Patricia McCaffrey. His first two CDs "Nachtblicke" and the critically acclaimed "Dichterliebe2" were released in 2014 and 2018 on the GWK RECORDS label. On the Harmonia Mundi label, "Stille Liebe" (2020) with songs by Robert Schumann and the Schubert program"Glaube. Liebe Hoffnung" (2022) are available, both titleswith pianist Joseph Middleton. In September 2023 "Die Schöne Müllerin" was released, as the first title of a five yearrecording project „Schubert 200“, with Ammiel Bushakevitz as accompanist. It received the renowned French critic’saward „Diapason d’or“ as the best lied recording of the year.In June 2024 his first orchestral CD „Urlicht. Songs of Death and Resurrection“ followed, also garnering numerousenthusiastic reviews.