Klaus Mertens

Renowned as a bass-baritone, Klaus Mertens commands attention in the Baroque concert domain, above all through his command of Johann Sebastian Bach. He has captured nearly 100 cantatas plus every large-scale choral composition by the Leipzig master, earning widespread praise for the results.

Vocal instruction reached him already in elementary school. Although his university coursework prepared him to teach music and he spent time in that role, growing vocal ability prompted a decisive turn toward professional performance. Further studies in voice, pedagogy, and interpretation followed with Else Bischof-Bornes, Jakob Stämpfli, and Peter Massmann.

A substantial concert career has yielded more than 100 recordings. Mertens has collaborated with leading figures of historically informed practice, notably Ton Koopman in a complete Bach cantata cycle as well as René Jacobs, Philippe Herreweghe, Sigiswald Kuijken, Frans Brüggen, Gustav Leonhardt, and Nikolaus Harnoncourt. Appearances with Gerard Schwarz, Peter Schreier, Edo de Waart, Herbert Blomstedt, Iván Fischer, and Hans Vonk have placed him before major orchestras that include the Saint Louis, Chicago, and Jerusalem Symphony Orchestras, the Dresden Philharmonic, the Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra, and the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra of Amsterdam.

Because early-music activity often centers on summer festivals, he regularly joins events such as the Lucerne Festival, the BBC Proms, the Mostly Mozart Festival of New York, the Salzburg Festival, the Prague Spring, Bach-Tage Berlin, the Flanders Festival, and the Oxford Handel Festival.

Like many specialists in early repertoire, Mertens also explores twentieth-century works, among them Hindemith's A Requiem for Those We Love and Stravinsky's Oedipus Rex. Critics have singled out his accounts of Mendelssohn's Elijah and Paul, together with other large-scale Romantic concert pieces, while his lieder performances receive consistent admiration. European television and radio have frequently broadcast his concerts.