Jochen Kupfer is one of Germany’s most sought-after singers. His guest appearances in the world’s opera houses and concert halls have been internationally celebrated.

In the 2025/26 season, Jochen Kupfer will be heard in recitals and concerts, as well as in roles such as the Dutchman in Wagner's Der fliegende Holländer, in a new production of Innocence by Kaija Saariaho, as Pizarro (Beethoven, Fidelio) and as Faninal (R. Strauss, Rosenkavalier).

Jochen Kupfer war ein Prachtkerl von einem Holländer, mit tiefschwarzem Bart und ebensolcher Stimme, die nach unten keine Grenze kannte. Herrlich, ihm bei seiner stimmlichen Reise in die 'Unterwelt' zuzuhören." BR Klassik, 18 May 2025

In addition to his engagements at the Semperoper Dresden and the Staatstheater Nürnberg guest appearances have taken Jochen Kupfer to the opera houses in Tokyo, Beijing, Shanghai, Strasbourg, Zürich and to the Teatro Colón in Buenos Aires, to the Vienna Volksoper, the opera house and styriarte Graz as well as to Staatsoper Hamburg, Komische Oper Berlin, Oper Leipzig, Staatsoper Unter den Linden in Berlin and Bayerische Staatsoper München.

Highly acclaimed role debuts in preceding seasons included Holländer and Amfortas (Wagner, The Flying Dutchman & Parsifal), the title role in Rubinstein's The Demon, Duke Bluebeard (Bartók, Duke Bluebeard's Castle), Wozzeck in Berg's opera of the same name, Andrej Bolkonski (Prokofiev, War and Peace), Gunther (G&öuml;tterdämmerung), Mandryka (Arabella), Kurwenal (Tristan und Isolde), Orest (Elektra), the broom-maker (Hänsel und Gretel), the Bad Guys (The Tales of Hoffmann), Escamillo (Carmen), the title role in Rossini's Guillaume Tell, Giorgio Germont (La Traviata) and Pizarro (Fidelio).
Jochen Kupfer's debut at the Glyndebourne Opera Festival as Beckmesser was acclaimed as "Beckmesser sings gloriously…" (Daily Express).

He has given recitals and concerts throughout Europe, in Japan, Mexico, Brazil, Hong Kong, Israel and the United States and at international festivals as well.

His concert repertoire includes Johann Sebastian Bach's passions and Haydn's Schöpfung as well as the romantic oratorios, Orff's Carmina burana and also the famous Lied cycles and Lieder from the late romantic period up to classical modernism.
In 2018 his scenic Lied recital WANDERER had its premiere at the Staatstheater Nürnberg.

Jochen Kupfer has appeared with renowned conductors including Giuseppe Sinopoli, Kurt Masur, Riccardo Chailly, Vladimir Jurowski, Krzysztof Urbański, Dirk Kaftan, Constantin Trinks, Raphael Frühbeck de Burgos, René Jacobs, Philippe Herreweghe, Jeffrey Tate, Enoch zu Guttenberg, Christof Prick, Kent Nagano, Fabio Luisi, Yuri Temirkanov, Paavo Järvi, Sir Roger Norrington and Herbert Blomstedt.

In 2022 the second CD of the three-part Hans Sommer Lied Edition (Naxos/BR Klassik) was released.
Other first-rate recordings such as Schubert's Winterreise (CD, MeisterKlang) and Wagner's Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg (DVD, Coviello) are added to his numerous recordings in the recital and concert repertoire.

In 2016 Jochen Kupfer has been awarded the honorary title Bayerischer Kammersänger.
SSince 2019 he has been professor for singing at Hochschule für Musik Würzburg.

When he was only nine years old, he got his first singing lessons at the music school of his native town of Grimma. He studied with Helga Forner (Musikhochschule Leipzig) and attended master classes with Theo Adam, Elisabeth Schwarzkopf and Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau, completing his studies with Rudolf Piernay, Harald Stamm and Dale Fundling.

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