Cornelius Lewenberg

Biography

Award-winning Baritone Cornelius Lewenberg was born in Stuttgart, Germany in 1989. At the age of six he became a member of the childrens choir at the Staatstheater Stuttgart where he sang for for seven years and appeared later as a soloist. Between 2005 and 2009 he sang at the Young Opera of the Staatstheater Stuttgart the part of Loipl in "Die reisende Ceres“ by Joseph Haydn, Yessir in "Erwin das Naturtalent“ by Mike Svoboda and Ümit in "Träumer“ by Matthias Heep. In 2007 Lewenberg became a pre-college student at the Stuttgart Conservatory and studied with Prof. Thomas Pfeiffer who inspired him for the Lieder repertoire.

During his further study at Karlsruhe conservatory, Cornelius Lewenberg worked with Prof. Friedemann Röhlig, Prof. Mitsuko Shirai and Prof. Hartmut Höll. Other mentors have included KS. Prof. Julia Varady, Brigitte Fassbaender, Ulf Bästlein, Artur Korn, Prof. Wolfgang Rihm (with whom he worked on his "Neue Alexanderlieder“) and also Prof. Markus Eiche (Zurich Conservatory).

Lewenberg has appeared at the Staatstheater Darmstadt as 5. Stimme in "Jakob Lenz“ by Wolfgang Rihm, at the Nationaltheater Mannheim as Orlando in "Amor“ by Handel and as Ottone in Monteverdis "L'incoronazione di Poppea“  at the Stadttheater Pforzheim. Internationally, he sang Starveling in "A Midsummernight's Dream“ by Britten in Yorke Trust Opera (UK) and at the Rossini Festival in Bad Wildbad. 

Beginning in the season 2016/2017 until Summer 2021, Cornelius Lewenberg has been an ensemble member at Mecklenburgisches Staatstheater Schwerin. During this time his roles included Ned Keene in "Peter Grimes“, Hans Scholl in "Die weiße Rose“ by Udo Zimmermann and Marullo in "Rigoletto“.  

Lewenberg holds a Schorlaship from the Scholarship Foundation by the German People, as well as from the Richard Wagner Association (Karlsruhe) and the Riemschneider Foundation (Karlsruhe). 

In 2017, he was an award-winner of the Badischer Kulturfonds e.V., the Kammeroper Schloss Rheinsberg where he sang in "Tucholskys Spiegel“ by James Reynolds. In 2019, he won at the Opernakademie Bad Orb and appeared as Il Conte in Mozarts "Le nozze di Figaro“.

Orchestral appearances have included the Baden-Baden Philharmonics under the baton of Judith Kubitz, and with the Beethoven Orchestra under the direction of Wolfgang Seeliger. As well as his demanding schedule as an Oratorio soloist, Lewenberg is a regular Lieder recitalist, having given concerts throughout Germany, Austria and England - most recently in a tour of critically acclaimed performances Schubert’s "Winterreise".

In summer 2022, Lewenberg sang Papageno in "Die Zauberflöte“ by Mozart at the Opernspiele Munot. Recently he was Kilian in "Der Freischütz“ and has just joined the Ensemble of Kammeroper Hamburg for "Orpheus in the underworld“, "La Traviata“ and "Turandot“. Recent Lieder recitals included concerts in Newcastle, London and Berlin.