Jan-Hendrick Rootering
Jan-Hendrik Rootering was born near Flensburg, a son of the Dutch tenor Hendrikus Rootering who became his teacher and mentor. During his studies in Hamburg he was already singing small parts at theatres including the Hamburg State Opera and the Musiktheater im Revier in Gelsenkirchen. In 1982 he made his début at the Bavarian State Opera in Munich in the rôle of the Spirit Messenger in Die Frau ohne Schatten. Since then he has sung all the major bass rôles in Munich, including the important Wagner parts, Pogner, Fasolt, Gurnemanz, Landgraf, Hans Sachs, and Daland, the Mozart rôles of Sarastro and the Commendatore, as well as Fiesco in Simone Boccanegra, and Banquo in Macbeth in the Italian repertoire. In 1990 he sang Baron Ochs in Brigitte Fassbaender’s Rosenkavalier production, Landgraf in David Alden’s Tannhäuser, Fasolt in Herbert Wernicke’s Ring under Zubin Mehta. In 2004 he was Hans Sachs in Munich’s production of Meistersinger also conducted by Zubin Mehta, a rôle he has sung with great success in houses including La Bastille de Paris, the Vienna State Opera, the Nederlandse Opera, the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden and at the Maggio Musicale Fiorentino. He sang his first Wotan in Die Walküre in Stuttgart, as well as at the Vienna State Opera in 2004. He was awarded the honorary title of Bavarian Kammersänger in 1986. He has appeared at numerous international festivals such as the Munich Opera Festival, the Berlin, the Vienna Festwochen, the Ravinia Festival and the Schubertiade Hohenems. He enjoys a close collaboration with the Metropolitan Opera in New York where he made his début in 1986/87 as the Landgraf in Tannhäuser under James Levine. He has many recordings, awards and honours to his credit in a distinguished career. Jan-Hendrik Rootering is professor at the Hochschule für Musik in Köln.
