Regular visitors of Historical Tenors will be aware that this site has a penchant, among many others, for the
bizarre. The recording below is one of the more blatant examples: this is no pop or rock singer looking for
diversion, it's no embittered voice teacher convinced that he would have become the world's greatest tenor if life was not so
terribly unjust, it's no weirdo who sits in front of his webcam in an undershirt and croaks some arias by composers who are too
dead to fight back. No: this is a singer with a career. And another proof into which bottomless abyss the art of singing has
fallen.
After studies in Lübeck, Lippert started his career in the studio of the Vienna Staatsoper (1984–86). His
first "real" contract was with the Lübeck theater (1987–91); from 1992 to 2020, he was a member of the Vienna
Staatsoper, where he sang a mix of small, smallest and main roles, but all in all not very often (211 evenings in 30 years total,
that's not a great lot). Worth mentioning: Tamino, Narraboth, Matteo, Golitsyn (!),
Bacchus (!), Lohengrin (!), Paul in Die tote Stadt (just two performances, nevertheless incredible), Ägisth, Peter Grimes
(!). Other than in Vienna, he sang regularly in Leipzig, Stuttgart, at the Deutsche Oper Berlin; further at Covent Garden, in
Bologna, Catania, Munich or Cologne, among others.
Coming back to his Di quella pira, this is from a live performance that even appeared on CD, and also the rest of the
cast is outlandish (Baroque specialist Simone Kermes with her vibratoless groaning as Leonora, not to forget the "historically
informed" orchestra).
In sharp contrast to his singing, Lippert is a rather gifted painter in a faintly Vangoghian style.
Picture source: Lippert's website, where you can also view some of his paintings
Reference 1: archives of the Vienna Staatsoper, reference 2: Kutsch & Riemens
