The Hamburg born Countertenor Kai Wessel studied music at the Lübeck Academy of Music where he majored in music theory (Prof. Roland Ploeger), composition (Prof.Dr. Friedhelm Döhl) and voice. As a voice student of Prof. Ute von Garczynski and a guest student for baroque performance practice (René Jacobs) at the Schola Cantorum Basiliensis, he passed his concert examination with honours. Wessel has received numerous prizes and fellowships and has performed concerts, operas , radio broadcasts, and sung in more than 90 CD recordings working with conductors such as: of Philippe Herreweghe, Gustav Leonhard, Ton Koopman, Nikolaus Harnoncourt, Martin Haselböck, Michael Schneider, Hans Werner Henze, Arturo Tamayo, Sylvain Cambreling, Peter Rundel, Heinz Holliger, Emilio Pomárico, Kent Nagano, a.o.
As one of the leading countertenors, Kai Wessel has performed at music festivals and opera houses all over the world. For ten years, he was a regular guest at the Basel Theatre working with renowned stage directors i.e. Herbert Wernicke, Karin Beier, Claus Guth and Joachim Schlömer.
As one of the leading countertenors, Kai Wessel has performed at music festivals and opera houses all over the world. For ten years, he was a regular guest at the Basel Theatre working with renowned stage directors i.e. Herbert Wernicke, Karin Beier, Claus Guth and Joachim Schlömer.
A number of contemporary Composers such as Mauricio Kagel, Heinz Holliger, Klaus Huber, Isabel Mundry, Chaya Czernowin, Georg Friedrich Haas, Jörg Widmann and Matthias Pintscher have written parts and works for him.
Kai Wessel is Professor for Voice and Historical Performance Practice at the University of Cologne for Music and Dance. He also teaches at the University of Bern Voice and Contemporary Vocal Literature.
In recent years, Kai Wessel has made a name for himself as a conductor , performing the Pastorale „Il Narciso“ by F.A.M.Pistocchi (the first performance in 300 years) , A.Caldara’s „Il Batista“ and J.S.Bach’s „St John’s Passion“.
