Ulf Bastlein

Ulf Bästlein graduated in Classics and German at the University of Freiburg, thereafter completing a doctorate funded by the Studienstiftung des Deutschen Volkes. Subsequently he studied singing at the Musikhochschule Freiburg, where he graduated with distinction. His stage career began at the Stadttheater in Heidelberg. Since then, he has performed in Augsburg, Hannover, Lübeck, and Hamburg among many others and won numerous awards (including the second prize at the German Music Competition).

Bästlein has performed in 
many countries across Europe as well as China, the United States, and Turkey and is a frequent guest at international music festivals, including the Flanders Festival (Belgium), the Stresa Festival (Italy), Styriarte (Austria), Schleswig-Holstein Music Festival, Rheingau Music Festival, Ludwigsburg Palace Festival and Herrenchiemsee Festival (Germany). He has performed in song recitals with Charles Spencer, Michael Gees, James Tocco, Julius Drake, Stacey Bartsch, Hedayet Jonas Djeddikar, Axel Bauni, Detlef Kraus and Sascha El Mouissi.

Bästlein has recorded settings of Heine, Goethe, Storm, Hebbel, Voß, Trakl and Leitner, as well as the cycles Winterreise and Dichterliebe along with drinking songs. 
He has performed in oratorios and operas (including many world premiere recordings) for Sony Classical, CPO, Orfeo, NAXOS and Hänssler labels. Since 2001 he has taught at the University of Music and Performing Arts in Graz, Austria. From 2009 to 2018 he was also the Co-Founder and Director of the Artistic Doctoral School at the University of Music, Graz.  Bästlein holds masterclasses in China, Russia, Turkey and Italy.

In 2000, together with the pianist Charles Spencer, he founded “Liedkunst” in Husum (Schleswig-Holstein). As part of this Liedfestival, Bästlein is involved in the promotion of rising talent (masterclasses and a competition with an awards ceremony) and in concerts which have garnered international 
acclaim. Bästlein has also edited Anselm Hüttenbrenner’s Lieder and authored several publications on the early 19th-century German Lied and on artistic and academic research. He has developed new and innovative concert formats: panel discussions on literary and music history, alternating readings and Lied performances. www.ulf-baestlein.eu