Thomas Piffka Tenor

While tenor Thomas Piffka was still studying at the Cologne Academy of Music, where Josef Metternich was one of his teachers, he already embarked on an active concert career. In 1990 he became a member of the ensemble of the Theater im Revier in Gelsenkirchen.

He was soon to be heard in other major German opera houses as well as in Lyon and in Brussels in major Mozart roles, as Ernesto|Don Pasquale, Alfred|Die Fledermaus, Alfredo|La traviata, Almaviva|Il barbiere di Siviglia, the Singer|Der Rosenkavalier, and also as Gounod's Faust and as Richard in Lortzing's Regina.

Thomas Piffka has been a freelance singer since 1999 but retained close contacts as a permanent guest with the theatres in Essen and St. Gallen. In Essen he has sung for example Edwin|Die Csardasfürstin, Don José|Carmen, Ismaele|Nabucco, Alwa|Lulu, Tamino, Max|Der Freischütz, Faust, Florestan|Fidelio, Erik|Der fliegende Holländer, Narraboth|Salome and Orpheus|Orphée aux enfers. In St. Gallen he has performed Florestan, Steva|Jenufa, Sou-Chong|Das Land des Lächelns and Giovanni in Mona Lisa by Max von Schillings.

Piffka gave guest performances at the Vienna Volksoper as Hoffegut in Die Vögel by Braunfels, Christobald in Schreker's Irrelohe and Graf Zedlau in Wiener Blut; at the Kassel State Theatre as Jeník|The Bartered Bride, Malandrino in Suppé's Banditenstreiche and Boris in Kát'a Kabanová; at Leipzig Opera House as Florestan under Herbert Blomstedt; at the Komische Oper Berlin as Sou-Chong; and at the Mörbisch Festival on the Lake as Octavio|Giuditta and as Tassilo|Gräfin Mariza. Thomas Piffka sang the title role in Massenet's Werther in Osnabrück and elsewhere.

He has also had engagements in Wiesbaden (Marquis in Prokofiev's The Gambler), Karlsruhe (Don José and the title role in Der Graf von Luxemburg), at the Teatro Lirico in Cagliari (Alfonso|Alfonso und Estrella), in Berne (Graf Zedlau), Dortmund (Narraboth), Graz (Matteo|Arabella), Basle (Sou-Chong and Erik) and Gothenburg (Faust).

Piffka gave his highly acclaimed role debut as Alwa|Lulu in April 2009 at the Opéra de Lyon (directed by Peter Stein), directly followed by performances in this production at Milan's La Scala and at Wiener Festwochen; furthermore he sang Alwa in Essen and at Salzburg Festival 2010. Other performances in the 2009-10 season included: Kalaf in Busoni's Turandot in Weimar, Florestan in Klagenfurt and Karlsruhe, Ismaele|Nabucco, Don José and Edwin|Die Csardasfürstinin in Essen, Erik in Cagliari, and Pinkerton|Madama Butterfly in Malmö.

In 2011 Piffka performed for example Kalaf in Dijon, Ismaele in Essen and Claire Quilty in Shchedrin's Lolita as opening of the Maifestspiele Wiesbaden. The 2011-12 season he started as Florestan at Hessisches Staatstheater Wiesbaden, and he performs Hoffmann|Hoffmanns Erzählungen in Essen. Further engagements will be for example as Guido Bardi|Eine Florentinische Tragödie, Alwa and Erik at the opera houses of Lyon, Berlin (Staatsoper) and Cologne.