The remembrance service for star German soccer player Franz Beckenbauer was held at the Allianz Arena in Munich on Friday, January 19th. Jonas Kaufmann was invited to perform three pieces: Time to say Goodbye (in the Italian version Con te partiro) as well as E più ti penso and Nessun dorma. In a personal statement, Jonas Kaufmann added: “It is an honor for me to be able to contribute to the unique memorial service for Franz Beckenbauer. I grew up in Munich and have been a fan of FC Bayern since my childhood. In my eyes, Franz Beckenbauer is the greatest personality of the club and of German soccer as a whole; he is unrivaled as a sportsman and as a person.”
The service was broadcast live on ARD, BR, ZDF, RTL and ntv; the video can be watched in the ZDF Mediathek til February 19.
Insieme – Jonas Kaufmann & Ludovic Tézier
On stage they’re usually rivals, but in real life Jonas Kaufmann and Ludovic Tézier share a close friendship. After many live performances together these two extraordinary artists have recorded their first duet album: Insieme, meaning “together” in Italian, to be released October 7 on Sony Classical. Accompanied by the Orchestra dell’Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia under Antonio Pappano, they present duets they’ve sung together on stage, plus works specially chosen for the album.
