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Staatskapelle Dresden olv. Sebastian Weigle
Deutsche Grammophon 00289 477 6230, Europe 2006.

Thomas Quasthoff was a thalidomide baby, growing to only about four feet tall and, in common with many of his fellow victims of the drug, has severely undeveloped arms. However, his voice and breathing apparatus are normal -- if a bass-baritone voice that is uncommonly magnificent can be considered normal.
His parents procured private voice lessons for him with Charlotte Lehmann, a concert singer of Hannover. She taught him for 17 years, and proved a superb voice teacher. The great baritone Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau said "It's clear to everyone who has heard Thomas Quasthoff that he has a wondrously beautiful voice and that he has had excellent previous training...."

While studying, Quasthoff found a position as a radio announcer in Hannover, becoming highly popular. In 1988 he won first prize in voice at the prestigious ARD music competition of Munich. This led to his beginning a concert and recital career that rapidly grew, although cautiously, Quasthoff retained his radio job for six more years. He finally adopted music as his full-time profession in 1996, the year he won the Shostakovich Prize in Moscow and the Hamada Trust/Scotsman Festival Prize, and in 1998 he won the Echo Prize. In 1996 he was appointed professor at the Detmold Music Academy, where he was one of the most popular voice teachers. He was also associated with the University of Oregon at Eugene, where he appeared regularly in the Oregon Bach Festival.
He has performed with many leading orchestras and conductors. His repertory includes the great choral/vocal/orchestral works of Bach, Mozart, Beethoven, Berlioz, Brahms, Mahler, and Britten. He sings opera arias in his programs, and has sung operatic roles in recordings of Beethoven's Fidelio, Haydn's L'Anima del Philosopho, and Schumann's Genoveva. It wasn't until 2003 that he appeared in opera on stage, in Fidelio (as Don Fernando) and in 2004 as Amfortas in Parsifal.