Thomas Hampson is a singer, actor, scholar, teacher, passionate golf player, avid collector of books and a committed advocate of new technologies.

Personal:
Girlfriend - Andrea Herberstein

Background:
Born in Elkhart, Indiana, he was raised in Spokane, Washington, and educated at Eastern Washington University, Cheney, and Fort Wright College, Spokane. He began his professional career as a voice student of Sr. Marietta Coyle, and at the age of 19 first appeared in an opera production -  portraying a very youthful father of the two title characters in Humperdinck's "Hansel und Gretel". During the following years Thomas Hampson studied with Martial Singher, Horst Gunter and Elisabeth Schwarzkopf. In 1980 he came to Europe and had his first permanent engagement at Dusseldorf's Deutsche Oper am Rhein. Four years later he joined the roster of the Zurich Opera where he collaborated frequently with Jean-Pierre Ponnelle and Nikolaus Harnoncourt and where he has since appeared every season.

Thomas Hampson's encounter with Leonard Bernstein, whom he met a few years before his death, had an equally strong impact on his life and career and led the way to his becoming one of today's leading interpreters of the music of Gustav Mahler. His passion for the lied repertoire, however, is not restricted to the German Romantics from Schubert to Wolf and Richard Strauss  -  he has devoted himself especially to composers of his native country and has initiated and been involved in a number of concert series and recordings as well as TV and multimedia projects. Chief among these has been a 12-city US recital tour in the 2005-06 season, with pianists Wolfram Rieger and Craig Rutenberg, entitled  "Song of America" and presented in collaboration with the Library of Congress. The concerts were dedicated entirely to American art song repertoire, and the tour will continue in 2008.

Song and singing to Thomas Hampson are the "diary of our existence" and therefore of the greatest significance for intercultural dialogue and understanding. To provide a forum for this kind of exchange, he in 2003 established the HAMPSONG Foundation. Its internet platform, www.hampsong.org, not only serves as an archive of his own activities as a musician and scholar but also makes available the results of these activities  -  in the form of essays, images, audio and video material  -  to a larger audience.

If as a lied singer Thomas Hampson has set new standards, his musical versatility has allowed him to be equally successful in opera, operetta, oratorio and musical theater. His repertoire includes the title roles of "Don Giovanni", "Il barbiere di Siviglia", "Guillaume Tell", "Macbeth", "Simon Boccanegra", "Eugene Onegin", Ambroise Thomas's "Hamlet", Massenet's "Werther" (in the baritone version), Busoni's "Doktor Faust", Szymanowski's "King Roger", Britten's "Billy Budd", Hans Werner Henze's "Der Prinz von Homburg", and Friedrich Cerha's opera "Der Riese vom Steinfeld" which had its world premiere in Vienna in 2002. In addition, Thomas Hampson has sung the Count in "Le nozze di Figaro", Giorgio Germont, Renato, Marquis of Posa, Wolfram, Amfortas, Mandryka, Oreste in Gluck's "Iphigenie en Tauride", and Athanael in Massenet's "Thais". In these and various other roles he has made guest appearances at the world's major opera houses while being particularly associated with, aside from the Zurich Opera, New York's Metropolitan Opera, the San Francisco Opera, the Opera National de Paris, the Royal Opera House Covent Garden, and the Vienna State Opera.

Thomas Hampson's numerous recordings include most of his opera roles and cover a broad stylistic range, from Monteverdi's "Vespro della Beata Vergine" and cantatas by Johann Sebastian Bach, which he recorded at the beginning of his career with Nikolaus Harnoncourt, to Felix Mendelssohn's oratorios "Paulus" and "Elijah" as well as works by Walton, Vaughan Williams, Frederick Delius, Maurice Durufle and American composer Elinor Remick Warren, to operettas by Franz Lehar and Johann Strauss, to musical theater works by Cole Porter, Irving Berlin, and Leonard Bernstein. Most of these recordings have won distinguished prizes, among them the Grammy and the Gramophone Award, the Grand Prix du Disque, the Edison Prize, and the Echo Klassik.

Academic and Professional Titles

2006 Officer of the Order “Pro Merito Melitensi” of the Order of Malta
2005 Honorary Member of the Wiener Konzerthausgesellschaft
Member of the European Academy of Sciences and Arts (Class III - Arts)
Honorary Chairman of RISM-Austria 
2004 Ehrenkreuz für Wissenschaft und Kunst (Medal of Honor in Arts and Sciences) from the Republic of Austria
Honorary Member of the "Freunde der Wiener Staatsoper"
2003 Board Member of International Gustav Mahler Society
2002 Chevalier de l'Ordre des Arts et des Lettres from the Republic of France
2000 Honorary Doctorate of Music, San Francisco Conservatory
Alumnus of the Year, University of Southern California
1999 Kammersänger of the Wiener Staatsoper
Gustav Mahler Medal in Gold, International Gustav Mahler Society
1998 Adventist Alumni Achievement Award
1997 Merola Distinguished Alumni Award
Citation for Lifetime Achievement in Music and Education, National Arts Club, NY
1996 Honorary Member of Royal Academy of Music, London (HONRAM)
1994 Puccini Foundation Achievement Award
Distinguished Alumni Award (1st recipient), Music Academy of the West
1993 Honorary Doctor of Music, Fort Wright College of the Holy Names, Spokane
1992 Bachelor of Arts, Eastern Washington University
1990 Outstanding Alumnus Award, University of Southern California School of Music
1984 Distinguished Alumni Award in Recognition of Outstanding Accomplishments, Eastern Washington University
1981 First Prize, Metropolitan Opera Auditions
1979 Lotte Lehmann Medal, Music Academy of the West, Santa Barbara
Bachelor of Fine Arts, Fort Wright College of the Holy Names, Spokane, Washington
1978 Young Artist Award (Voice Division) & Grand Award (Highest Achievement), Greater Spokane Music and’ Allied Arts Festival
1977 Bachelor of Arts, Eastern Washington University at Cheney, Washington

Recording and Music Industry Awards

2005 Edison Award for Life Achievement

2003 Verdi, “Falstaff” (DG, Claudio Abbado)
Edison Award

2002 Wagner, “Tannhäuser” (Teldec, Daniel Barenboim)
Grammy Award, Best Opera Recording Artist of the month, Yahoo Germany

2000 Szymanowski, “Krol Roger” (EMI, Simon Rattle)
Gramophone Award, Best Opera Recording
Diapason d’Or
Caecilia Prize
Classic CD Award

1999 Szymanowski, “Krol Roger”
Choc du Monde de la MusiqueBernstein, “Wonderful Town” (EMI, Simon Rattle)
Diapason d’Or

1997 Schubert, “Winterreise” (EMI, Wolfgang Sawallisch)
Choc du Monde de la MusiqueEMI Special Achievement Award – Artist of the Year
Yahoo “Five Star Web Site” for www.hampsong.com
Various Internet Awards including “Cool Site of the Month” for “I Hear America Singing”

1996 “German Arias” (EMI, Fabio Luisi)
Grand Prix du Disque“Best Male Singer”, Echo Klassik (Germany)
Excellence Citation, St. Paul Sunday Morning American Song Broadcast Peabody Broadcasting Award

1995 Barber, “Secrets of the Old” – Complete Songs (DG, Cheryl Studer, John Browning)
Classic CD Best Vocal Recital
BBC Magazine Best Vocal Recital
Grammy Nomination“Singer of the Year”, Deutscher Schallplattenpreis

1994 Mahler, “Des Knaben Wunderhorn” (Teldec, Geoffrey Parsons)
Toblacher Komponierhäuschen AwardBarber, “Secrets of the Old”
Grammy Award nomination
Gramophone Award, Best Vocal RecordingBernstein, On the Town (DG, Michael Tilson Thomas)
Gramophone Awards, Best Musical & Best Video“Best Male Vocalist”, Cannes Classical Award

1993 Thomas, “Hamlet” (EMI, Antonio de Almeida)
Grand Prix du Disque, Académie Charles Gros
Palmares des Palmares, Nouvelle Académie du DisqueWagner, “Götterdämmerung” (EMI, Bernard Haitink)
Edison Award“Male Singer of the Year”, Classical Music Awards

1992 Mahler, Rückert-Lieder, “Lieder eines fahrenden Gesellen”, “Kindertotenlieder” (DG, Leonard Bernstein)
Edison AwardRossini & Meyerbeer, Songs (EMI, Geoffrey Parsons)
Grand Prix du DisqueDelius, “Sea Drift” (London/Decca, Charles Mackerras)
Grammy Award nominationSchubert, “Fierrabras” (DG, Claudio Abbado)
Grammy Award nomination“Stern des Jahres”, Solo Recital, Münchener Abendzeitung
“Vocalist of the Year”, Musical America

1991 Mahler, Rückert-Lieder, “Lieder eines fahrenden Gesellen”, “Kindertotenlieder” (DG, Leonard Bernstein)
Grammy Award nomination

1990 Songs from “Des Knaben Wunderhorn” by various composers (Teldec, Geoffrey Parsons)
Grand Prix du Disque, Académie Charles Gros
Deutscher Schallplattenpreis
Edison Award
International Records Critics Award
Grammy Award nomination

1988 Puccini, “La Bohème” (DG, Leonard Bernstein)
Grammy Award nomination