Life
Andreas Scholl was born on 10 November 1967 in Eltville, West Germany, into a family of singers, and joined the Kiedricher Chorbuben boys’ choir at age seven. At seventeen he won a rare place at the Schola Cantorum Basiliensis, studying countertenor technique under Richard Levitt and René Jacobs, with soprano Emma Kirkby and lutenist Anthony Rooley as further influences. Andreas Scholl became one of the most celebrated countertenors of his generation, admired for his warm, seamless tone in Renaissance and Baroque repertoire, including Dowland’s lute songs and Handel roles such as Bertarido in Rodelinda. He has recorded extensively for Harmonia Mundi and Decca and, since 2019, has taught at the Universität Mozarteum in Salzburg.
Impact
Andreas Scholl brought the countertenor voice to unprecedented popularity and mainstream acclaim, his rich, effortless sound dispelling lingering skepticism about the voice type’s expressive range. His acclaimed recordings of Dowland’s melancholic ayres, made with lutenists Edin Karamazov and Andreas Martin, became benchmark interpretations that introduced English Renaissance song to wide new audiences. As a teacher at the Schola Cantorum Basiliensis and the Mozarteum, he has also shaped subsequent generations of early-music countertenors.
Repertoire
In Darkness Let Me Dwell by John Dowland
Dowland: In darkness let me dwell — With Edin Karamazov, from Robert Dowland’s A Musicall Banquet
Flow, my tears by John Dowland
Andreas Scholl sings ‘Flow, my tears’ by John Dowland
Dowland: Flow, my tears — With Andreas Martin, lute
L’incoronazione di Poppea: Pur ti miro by Claudio Monteverdi
Monteverdi – Pur ti miro (Scholl)
Elisabeth & Andreas Scholl sing Monteverdi’s “Pur ti miro” — 2013 · Duet with his sister, soprano Elisabeth Scholl