Benno Schachtner

Benno Schachtner Countertenor

Biography

Benno Schachtner was born in Illertissen, Bavaria and began his career as a boy in the Ulmer Spatzen Choir. He studied liturgical music and voice at the University of Detmold before entering the Schola Cantorum Basiliensis. He was the first countertenor to receive the Bachpreisträger and the Orchestra Prize at the prestigious International Bach Competition in Leipzig in 2012. He also received the 2017 ICMA Musikpreis for his recording of St John’s Passion conducted by René Jacobs, the 2017 ECHO Klassik-Preis for Bach’s Cantatas for Luther conducted by Christoph Spering, the 2016 Bayerischer Kunstförderpreis, and the 2016 ECHO Klassik-Preis for the CD Water Music.
Since 2016, he has been teaching practical history of the performing arts at the Hochschule für Musik und Darstellende Kunst in Mannheim. Over the last few seasons, he has sung the title role in Philip Glass’s Akhnaten in Bonn, King Arthur at the Berlin Staatsoper, Bach’s Mass in B Minor at the Bach Festival in Montréal, Handel’s Messiah on tour with the Ensemble 1704, Israel in Egypt at the Potsdam Festival, and Sosarme at the Handel Festival in Halle. He has also appeared in a stage production of The St John’s Passion (And You Must Suffer) in Warsaw and Amsterdam, George Benjamin’s Written on Skin (The Boy) in Saint Gallen, Ottone (L’Incoronazione di Poppea), the title role in Giulio Cesare in Erfurt, and Prince Medoro (Bach’s Der Triumph der Liebe) at the Bad Lauchstädt Theatre. His most recent recording Clear of Cloudy, was released in 2017.