Baritone Jonas Müller is the winner of the 2025 Music Prize of the German Economy. The prizewinner’s tour will take him to the Beethovenfest Bonn, the Festspiele Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, the Rheingau Musik Festival, the Ludwigsburger Schlossfestspiele, the Heidelberger Frühling, and the Lucerne Festival.
Starting in the 2025/26 season, Jonas will be a member of the International Opera Studio at Oper Frankfurt.
He made his debut in 2024 at Winter in Schwetzingen, performing the role of “Adonis” in the opera of the same name by J. S. Kusser, under the baton of Jörg Halubeck. In 2022, he appeared as Count Almaviva in Mozart’s Le nozze di Figaro with Kammeroper München at the Cuvilliés Theater, and in the same year sang the role of Lubano in Der Stein der Weisen with the Hofkapelle München. A recording of this forerunner to The Magic Flute was released in summer 2024 by Sony Classics.
As an internationally sought-after concert singer, Jonas has performed with the Gewandhaus Orchestra, the WDR Radio Orchestra, and the Munich Klangverwaltung, working with conductors such as Frieder Bernius, Christoph Poppen, Jos van Immerseel, Hans-Christoph Rademann, Hansjörg Albrecht, Roberto González-Monjas, and Thomaskantor Andreas Reize. He has sung solo parts from major oratorios in venues such as the Berlin, Cologne, and Munich Philharmonie, the Herkulessaal, the Hong Kong City Hall, the Pavarotti-Freni Theater in Modena, and the Laeiszhalle in Hamburg, sharing the stage with artists including Ian Bostridge, Simon Keenlyside, Michael Schade, and Daniel Behle.
Art song plays a central role in the young baritone’s artistic life.
Together with pianist Anna Gebhardt, Jonas was awarded a prize at the 2024 International Art Song Competition organized by the International Hugo Wolf Academy (IHWA). A close collaboration with pianist Gerold Huber has recently led him to the Danish festivals “Hindsgavl” and “HICSUM” and to the Pierre Boulez Saal in Berlin. He has also performed with pianists such as Julius Drake and Herbert Schuch. In collaboration with the internationally active guitar duo Tomasi-Musso, Jonas developed a new version of Schubert’s Winterreise, which has already been heard in Rome, Turin, and several German cities. The recording of this extraordinary arrangement is scheduled for release in autumn 2025 on Oehms Classics.
He further refined his interpretative skills in masterclasses with Brigitte Fassbaender, Thomas Hampson, Christoph Prégardien, and Ian Bostridge. From 2022 to 2024, he also studied in the Lied class of Prof. Christian Gerhaher. Jonas was a scholarship recipient of the “Lied the Future” program, supported by the Associació Franz Schubert Barcelona and the Fundación Banco Sabadell. This partnership facilitated concerts at the Schubertíada Vilabertran, Música en Segura, and the Círculo del Liceo in Barcelona.
Born in 1999 in Deggendorf, Jonas grew up in nearby Osterhofen and completed his secondary education in 2017 at the arts-focused St. Gotthard-Gymnasium in Niederalteich, where he also received extensive classical piano training. In 2024, he founded a chamber music and art song festival there called “Ohefest.” From 2017 to 2019, he studied with Prof. Daniela Sindram in the Pre-College program of the University of Music in Würzburg. In October 2019, he began his Bachelor of Music with Prof. Lars Woldt at the University of Music and Theatre Munich, and since 2023, he has been pursuing a Master’s degree in concert singing with KS Prof. Christiane Iven.
Choral singing has been a vital part of his vocal identity from a young age and laid the foundation for his artistic development. During his school years, he sang in the boys’ choir of the Benedictine Abbey of Niederalteich, the “Pueri Cantores Altahensis.” He later gained further experience with the Kammerchor Stuttgart, the ensemble Lauschwerk, and the Audi Youth Choir Academy.
Jonas won first prize in the youth category of the Louis Spohr Competition in 2018 and received the Dan-Canto Prize in 2019. In 2020, he was awarded the Förderpreis by the Konzertgesellschaft München and the Cultural Advancement Award from his hometown of Osterhofen. Since 2021, he has been a scholarship holder of “Yehudi Menuhin Live Music Now Munich” and the “Fritz Wunderlich Society”; that same year he also received support from the Hans and Eugenia Jütting Foundation in Stendal. In 2022/23, he held a scholarship from the Thomas Gotthold Greinwald Foundation and, in May 2023, won the Musikpreis des Kulturkreises Gasteig in the Liedduo category alongside his duo partner Anna Gebhardt. In 2024, Jonas received the Cultural Prize of the Deggendorf District in the field of music.
