Andreas Scholl

Who is Andreas Scholl?

Andreas Scholl is a German countertenor, a male classical singer in the alto vocal range, specialising in Baroque music.

Born into a family of singers, Scholl was enrolled at the age of seven into the boys choir. Aged 13, he was chosen from 20,000 choristers gathered in Rome from around the world to sing solo at a Mass held on 4 January 1981. Just four years later, Scholl was offered a place at the Schola Cantorum Basiliensis, an institution that normally accepts only post-graduate students, based on the strength and quality of his voice. He has since become an instructor at the Schola Cantorum Basiliensis, succeeding his own teacher, Richard Levitt.

Scholl's early operatic roles include his standing in for René Jacobs in 1993 at the Théâtre Grévin in Paris, where he caused a sensation. His major roles, such as his debut at Glyndebourne in 1998 as Bertarido in Handel's Rodelinda, a role he reprised at the Metropolitan Opera in 2006, were written for the 18th-century alto castrato Senesino.

The bulk of Scholl's recording career has been with Harmonia Mundi and Decca, and his CDs are among Harmonia Mundi's best sellers. He has worked with most contemporary Baroque specialists, including William Christie and Philippe Herreweghe, and is himself a song writer and composer of ballet and theatre music, with his own professional sound studio in Basel, Switzerland.