Caspar Dechmann
About me
In the last years, Caspar Dechmann has gained an excellent reputation as a versatile musician and conductor especially the field of opera and operetta. In addition to his fine musicianship he distinguishes himself though his experience and his intuition in the work with singers. He founded this early on as an active lied accompanist and has been expanding his experience since as a conductor and répétiteur, as coach and choir master, as assistant of great voice teachers, even as long-time chorister and occasional voice soloist.
Like many conductors, Caspar Dechmann started his musical carrier as a Pianist: After first studies with Boris Mersson and Christophe Lieske he finished his Concert Diploma for Lied Interpretation with Irwin Gage in Zürich and his Master of Piano Performance with Veronica Joachim in Boston, both with honour. He took master classes with eminent teachers such as Rudolf Buchbinder, Leonard Hokanson, Aribert Reimann and Paul Badura-Skoda. As a soloist he performed in famous concert halls like the Zurich Tonhalle, the Boston Jordan Hall and the Chamber Music Hall of the Berlin Philharmonie. He made several recordings for US radio WGBH and Swiss radio DRS2.
As a coach Caspar Dechmann accompanied master classes for great teachers such as Elisabeth Schwarzkopf, Christa Ludwig, Samuel Ramey and José van Dam. Thus he gained an enormous repertoire and, in addition, profound knowledge of vocal technique. He worked fort he Zurich Opera Studio and many opera companies, among them the Zurich Opera House, the Bamberg Theatre and the Castle Opera Haldenstein. At the Bern Theatre he participated in the Swiss premiere of Bernarda Alba’s House by Aribert Reimann. He had the honour to introduce the grande dame of Swiss theatre, Anne-Marie Blanc, into the realm of contemporary singing. Additional great actors he worked with include Klaus Maria Brandauer and John Malkovich. He also acted as a répétiteur for conductors Muhai Tang, Roger Norrington and Howard Griffiths.
Beside German, Caspar Dechmann has mastery of English, French and Italian (and Latin for sacred music). But his language skills go far beyond word meaning and pronunciation: They include a profound intimacy with the tonal, poetical and stylistic idiosyncrasies of each language. Beside their expressive possibilities he is familiar with their individual challenges and how they can be mastered, even on a vocal level. This creates him, together with his nuanced pianistic skills, an extraordinary coach as well as a sought-after accompanist for recitals.
This way he has also as a conductor the skill to acquire and perform a huge repertory in four languages on a comparably high level. He is intrigued by the complex interaction between music and language and he loves the musical and technical challenge to connect the soloist, the orchestra and the choir with precision and vitality. To bring into focus their music and their drama without losing their individual characters.
Caspar Dechmann was for many years musical director of the Pocket Opera Company Zürich and has been since 2008 at the head of the Operetta Company Zürich Oberland. He conducted various ensembles such as the Collegium Novum Zürich and the Burgas State Philharmonic. In many productions he studied with great success the choir. Though his vocal expertise he achieves an extraordinary rhythmic conciseness and unity of sound. He receives regular invitations to concerts in Japan and other countries.
May 2015