Kai Wessel
Countertenor Kai Wessel is largely associated with Baroque repertory, but he also sings a fair amount of contemporary music, including his own compositions as well as works written for him. As a composer he has produced much vocal music and a significant number of instrumental compositions, including solo works for piano, harpsichord, and violin, as well as chamber music and other mostly small-scale compositions. As a singer Wessel has been involved with two early music groups, the Ensemble Contrapunctus and Ensemble Vocal Européen de la Chapelle Troyale, the latter conducted by Philippe Herreweghe. But Wessel has mainly freelanced, singing at major opera houses and concert halls throughout Europe, Japan, and the U.S. While his repertory is rich in works by J.S. Bach, Telemann, Handel, and other Baroque composers, he has also sung works by Reger, operas by contemporary composers Salvatore Sciarrino and Klaus Huber, and other modern fare. Wessel is on the faculty at Cologne's College of Music as a teacher of both voice and Baroque performance practices. He has made numerous recordings, many available from CPO, Harmonia Mundi, and Challenge.
Kai Wessel was born in Hamburg, Germany, in 1964. He was busy as a composer in his teens, turning out such works as the 1978 Barlach-Zyklus, a collection of six short pieces for piano. Wessel studied at the Lübeck Academy of Music, where his most important teachers were Ute von Garczynski (voice) and Friedhelm Döhl (composition).
At the Berlin-based German Vocal Competition Wessel won prizes in both 1984 and 1988, and in 1990 he was a prizewinner at the Musica Antiqua Competition in Bruges, Belgium. His 1986 Trio, for piano, clarinet, and cello, and his 1990 Two Songs after Matthias Claudius, for high voice, clarinet, horn, violin, cello, and piano, came from this period, the latter on commission. His first recordings emerged from this time, as well, and included Domenico Scarlatti's Stabat Mater on Christophorus (1988) and Lassus' Lamentationes Jeremiae Prophetae on Harmonia Mundi France (1989).
Around this time too, Wessel worked as an assistant to René Jacobs on opera productions in Innsbruck and Hamburg. Throughout the 1990s Wessel appeared in many major concerts, including the 1995 Berlin Philharmonic performance of Handel's Saul, in which he sang David.
Wessel was busy in opera: among other roles, he portrayed the adulterous guest in the 1998 premiere of Salvatore Sciarrino's Lucie mei traditrici at the Schwetzingen Festival in Germany. That performance was issued on an acclaimed Kairos CD in 2001, which added to Wessel's already lengthy discography. Although his compositional output had slowed down from 1991, Wessel remained busy in the new century, especially in opera: along with much other activity, he sang the title role in Giustino in 2003 and 2004 at the Baden State Theater's Handel Festival in Karlsruhe.
Wessel has also been busy in the concert hall and recording studio. Among his more acclaimed recordings is the 2011 Warner Classics recording of J.S. Bach's St. Matthew Passion, with Ton Koopman conducting the Amsterdam Baroque Orchestra.
© TiVo
Discography
13 album(s) • Sorted by Bestseller
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Chaya Czernowin: Wintersongs
Jeffrey Gavett, Kai Wessel, International Contemporary Ensemble, Steven Schick
Classical - Released by KAIROS on Apr 1, 2017
24-Bit 48.0 kHz - Stereo -
Salvatore Sciarrino: Luci mie Traditrici
Annette Stricker, Otto Katzameier, Kai Wessel, Simon Jaunin, Klangforum Wien, Beat Furrer
Classical - Released by KAIROS on Nov 1, 2000
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Marcello: Cassandra
Classical - Released by AEON on Mar 25, 2010
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Porpora: Gedeone (Il)
Classical - Released by CPO on Jul 20, 1999
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Friedhelm Dohl Edition, Vol. 14 (Friedhelm Dohl)
Classical - Released by Dreyer Gaido on Jul 1, 2010
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Whitsun Cantatas
Barbara Schlick, Deborah York, Bogna Bartosz, Kai Wessel, Christoph Prégardien, Klaus Mertens
Classical - Released by Challenge Classics on Apr 22, 2009
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Gott der Herr ist Sonne und Schild
Andrea Lauren Brown, Kai Wessel, Georg Poplutz, Dominik Wörner, Kirchheimer BachConsort, Sirkka-Liisa Kaakinen-Pilch
Classical - Released by CPO on Dec 1, 2017
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Sibylla: Renaissance Music & New Music
Chamber Music - Released by Genuin on Nov 4, 2014
24-Bit 48.0 kHz - Stereo -
Hasse: Cantatas and Chamber Music
Classical - Released by Musikproduktion Dabringhaus und Grimm (MDG) on Mar 1, 2000
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Scarlatti: Oratorio per la Passione di Nostro Signore Gesu Cristo - Stradella: Lamentatione per il Mercodi Santo
Mechthild Bach, Kai Wessel, Petra Geitner, Stagione Vocal Ensemble, La, Stagione Orchestra, La, Michael Schneider
Classical - Released by CapriccioNR on Aug 1, 2010
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
La Colpa, Il Pentimento, La Grazia
Mechthild Bach, Petra Geitner, Kai Wessel, Stagione Vocal Ensemble, La, Stagione Orchestra, La, Michael Schneider
Classical - Released by CapriccioNR on Apr 3, 2012
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Wind Music
Kai Wessel, Eduard Wesly, Ivar Berix, Raaf Hekkema, Jelte Althuis, Alban Wesly
Classical - Released by Musikproduktion Dabringhaus und Grimm (MDG) on Apr 1, 1997
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Un soir a la cour
Miscellaneous - Released by Musikproduktion Dabringhaus und Grimm (MDG) on Aug 1, 1999
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo