„MUSIC IS THE HOLIEST ART, WHICH UNITES IN SACRED BONDS ALL WHO CAN DARE.“

These words by Hugo von Hofmannsthal and the incredible opera from which they originate were to exercise a tremendous influence over my life. I was born in Graz in 1964 and grew up in a family of highly musical and music-loving individuals. Aged six, I was allowed to go to the opera for the first time, Faust by Charles Gounod, and instantly caught a virus which has held me in its sway ever since.

I spent large parts of my childhood and youth in the Graz Opera, in rehearsals, the standing room or in the box of the opera’s director Carl Nemeth, who was my godfather.

However, I did not commit myself to the opera right away, but became an actor. My professional journey started very successfully at the Burgtheater Vienna and led me to such renowned houses as the Residenz Theatre in Munich, the theatres of Zurich, Stuttgart, Dusseldorf and Frankfurt and eventually back to Vienna to the Theater in der Josefstadt. Yet my indomitable love of the opera remained unabated throughout this journey. I continuously shaped my career, which I had begun as an actor in theatre, film and TV productions, towards musical theatre and the combination of speech and music. This journey was greatly helped by my friend Marcello Viotti, gone far too early and never forgotten, who invited me to play my first Major-Domo in Venice in 2003. Further Major-Domos, Bassas, and several melodramas were to follow. I was represented by an opera and concert agency, which became quickly aware of my profound knowledge about voices and music in general and invited me to join them as an artist manager. This was the moment my love of the opera turned into my profession.

Two years of apprenticeship with the agency and the fact that many assistants, trainees and beginners of that time are now influential opera directors, managers or singers of worldwide fame with whom I have maintained a friendship over all these years gave me the courage cited above and inspired me to establish Tscherne Artists in 2012.

So I embarked on yet another journey in my life, an exciting, intriguing, challenging and wonderful journey. With all my heart I invite you to share it with me.

Yours, Franz Tscherne

November 2013