Born at Bad Neuheim in 1968, he directed the local church choir and the trombone choir while still at school. He served as a part-time organist and founded several performing groups. Having gained his college entrance qualifications, he first studied Protestant theology and musicology in Frankfurt am Main and then voice and music education with Prof. Helga Köhler-Wellner and Prof. Jürgen Hartfiel at Dresden’s Carl Maria von Weber College of Music. The findings of his dissertation in which he discussed the Evangelist’s part in Bach’s Passion according to St. Matthew in terms of musicology, history of thought, vocal technique and performance practice were published in the Yearbook of the Carl Maria von Weber College of Music in 2000.
While still at college, Leonhardt appeared extensively as a concert soloist. He performed at the Bach Week of the Heilig-Geist-Kirche in Heidelberg, the Summer Arts Festival of central Saxony, the Katholische Hofkirche in Dresden and Bautzen’s Cathedral. The programmes mainly featured works by Schütz, Bach, Handel, Haydn and Mozart. Leonhardt sang the part of the Evangelist in the oratorios and Passions of Johann Sebastian Bach all over Germany. In 2000, he assumed the tenor solos in a complete performance of the first cycle of Bach’s Leipzig cantatas initiated by the Deutscher Musikrat to mark the 250th anniversary of the composer’s death. To round off his training he attended master classes by Edith Mathis, Brigitte Fassbaender and Peter Schreier and gained first-hand experience of the stage by singing in the Opernchorstudio of Dresden’s opera house.
After graduation Leonhardt became associated with the Landestheater Detmold and the Hessische Staatstheater Wiesbaden where he sang tenor roles in the choir and as a soloist, but even during that period he took part in several projects of the Rundfunkchor Berlin. Since January 1, 2004 he has been a regular member of the ensemble. Christoph Leonhardt appreciates working with highly qualified colleagues in a professional choir whose make-up does not change, making it possible to create and retain a distinctive choral sound. Moreover, the wide-ranging repertoire suits the singer’s multifarious interests. To indulge his passion for small-scale a cappella music Leonhardt joined forces with four other young singers of the Rundfunkchor to found the Amalien-Ensemble.
A CD to be released shortly by Harmonia Mundi France will feature a cappella music performed by the Rundfunkchor with Christoph Leonhardt as soloist in Jonathan Harvey’s “Come, Holy Ghost”. In April 2005 he will perform the tenor solo in Carl Orff’s „Carmina Burana“ within the context of the Rundfunkchor’s sing-along concert.
