Since making his U.S. debut at the Oregon Bach Festival with Helmuth Rilling, German bass-baritone THOMAS QUASTHOFF has sung with most of the major U.S. orchestras under such esteemed conductors as Kurt Masur, Colin Davis, Seiji Ozawa, and Mariss Jansons. In Europe Quasthoff appears regularly with the most distinguished orchestras, including the Berlin Philharmonic, Vienna Philharmonic, and the London Symphony Orchestra. In recital, he has performed at Lincoln Center and the Kennedy Center, on recital series in San Francisco, Los Angeles, Boston, Toronto, Ann Arbor, and Atlanta, and in the major recital halls of Europe.

Highlights of his 2004/2005 season are first appearances with the San Francisco Symphony, the Los Angeles Philharmonic, and the Metropolitan Opera and a return engagement with the Cleveland Orchestra. In April 2003 Quasthoff made his first staged opera appearance as Don Fernando in Fidelio with Sir Simon Rattle conducting the Berlin Philharmonic in Salzburg. In April 2004, he sang the role of Amfortas in Wagner's Parsifal at the Vienna State Opera.

Quasthoff's impressive discography includes recordings for the BMG, Haenssler, EMI-Electrola, Philips, and Bayer labels. In June 1999 he signed an exclusive recording contract with Deutsche Grammophon. Recent and ongoing DG projects include German romantic arias with the orchestra of the Deutsche Oper Berlin conducted by Christian Thielemann and Mahler's Songs of a Wayfarer with Pierre Boulez and the Vienna Philharmonic.

Quasthoff has been the subject of numerous feature stories in the national press and on CBS's 60 Minutes and NBC Nightly News with Tom Brokaw. A German documentary about Quasthoff was awarded "The Golden Camera" (the German equivalent of the Emmy).

Quasthoff began his studies with Charlotte Lehmann and Huber-Contwig in Hannover, Germany. He won First Prize in the 1988 ARD International Music Competition in Munich, the 1996 Shostakovich Prize, and the Hamada Trust/Scotsman Festival Prize at the 1996 Edinburgh International Festival. He a professor at the Music Academy in Detmold, Germany from 1996 through 2004. Beginning in October 2004 he became Professor of Vocal Music at the Hanns Eisler School of Music in Berlin.