About
Haakon Schaub studied under Prof. KS Heinz Reeh at the “Hanns Eisler” Academy of Music in Berlin, where he already sang several key operatic roles, such as the Sprecher in Die Zauberflöte, Morbio in Die schweigsame Frau, Wotan in Das Rheingold and Escamillo, by the time he graduated in 2006. He continued his training in private study with Anna Reynolds in Bayreuth, Dr. Dorothea Glatt in Berlin (Role Preparation), and Prof. Alessandra Althoff-Pugliese in Venice and Treviso. He participated in master classes by Prof. Julia Varady (Interpretation) and Prof. Wolfram Rieger (Lied), as well as Prof. Roland Hermann in Zurich and Prof. Tom Krause in Hamburg. He is currently working with KS Hans Sotin on the great baritone roles of Richard Wagner.
During his period of private training, Haakon Schaub debuted as the Herald in Gluck’s Alceste with the Osterfestspielen Rheinsberg, and sang Conte Almaviva in Mozart’s Le Nozze di Figaro at the International Music Competition for Directors, the Ring-Award in Graz. Engagements followed at the Klassik-Festival Ibiza as Giorgio Germont in La Traviata and the Festspiele Bad Hersfeld, where he initially sang Morales in Carmen and in the following season made his successful debut as Zar in Lortzing’s Zar und Zimmermann. Since then Haakon Schaub has established himself as a specialist in the German operatic repertoire.
Under the baton of Edwin Scholz at the Musikforum Brandenburg, he again sang Wotan in Rheingold, as well as Nick Shadow in Stravinsky’s The Rake’s Progress, the Water Goblin (Vodnik) in Dvorak’s Rusalka and Don Ferdinand in Prokofiev’s Betrothal in a Monastery at the Bayreuther forum 25 directed by Philippe Arlaud. He made his debut as Don Pizarro in Fidelio in a production directed by Dieter Reuscher in the “Carl Philip Emanuel Bach” Concert Hall in Frankfurt an der Oder and sang the role of Dreieinigkeitsmoses in Der Aufstieg und Fall der Stadt Mahagonny by Kurt Weill at Teatro Goldoni in Livorno, Teatro Verdi in Pisa, Teatro Alighieri in Ravenna and Teatro del Giglio in Lucca.
The 2011/12 season saw his debut at the State Opera Izmir as the Musiklehrer in Ariadne auf Naxos by Richard Strauss, and in 2013 he sang the title role in Hindemith’s Cardillac in a concert performance in the Augartenpalais Wien, as well as a 2-day Wagner-Marathon (Holländer’s monologue, Amfortas’ “Wehevolles Erbe”, the “Wahn” monologue of Hans Sachs, Act 1 of Siegfried, Wotan’s Farewell aria from Die Walküre as well as the finale of Das Rheingold) under the auspices of the Lübecker Sommeroperette’s special program Wagner meets Britten.
Concert engagements have brought Haakon Schaub as a soloist to numerous European countries, as well as Asia and the USA. Highlights of his recent concert appearances include Mendelssohn’s Elijah, (Concerto Brandenburg), Mahler’s 8th Symphony with the Berliner Symphoniker in the Philharmonie Berlin, Beethoven’s 9th Symphony with the Orchester des Theaters Bielefeld in the Rudolf-Oetker Halle Bielefeld, where he was also heard in Elijah, Bruckner’s Mass in F-Minor and Verdi’s Requiem.
Further performances include Bach’s Johannespassion (Philharmonie Berlin) and Matthäuspassion (Internationale Bachtage Hessen-Thüringen, Konzerthaus Berlin) as well as the role of Porgy in concert performances of Porgy and Bess in the Philharmonie Berlin and the Philharmonie Stettin under the baton of Peter Aderhold, the title role in Don Giovanni with the Orchestra del Teatro La Fenice under Maestro Alberto Veronesi in Venice, and a concert tour throughout Turkey with a world premiere of composer Rene Giessen.