Biography:

Jürgen Kesting (26 July 1940 – 5 June 2026) was a German journalist, music critic and author who focused on great voices.

Life and career

Born in Duisburg, Kesting studied German and English culture as well as philosophy in Cologne and Vienna from 1960 to 1967. After four years as press officer of Electrola (1969–1971) and the Munich Eurodisc (1971–1973), he worked as editor, department head, managing editor and author for Stern from 1973. In 1993 he changed as an author to the newly founded newspaper Die Woche [de]. In autumn 1997 he developed for Gruner + Jahr the music magazine Amadeo.

After numerous music broadcasts – WDR, Südwestfunk, Süddeutscher Rundfunk, Bayerischer Rundfunk, SWR, RBB, DR – in 1986 he published a comprehensive study Die großen Sänger in three volumes which was considered a standard work. This was followed in 1990 by a monograph on Maria Callas translated into English, Russian and Japanese, and in 1991 by a book essay on Luciano Pavarotti, translated into English. For thirteen years he produced a weekly music series about great singers for the NDR; for four ARD stations (SFB, NDR, MDR, Süddeutscher Rundfunk) a 26-part episode about Maria Callas, then also 26 episodes about the pianist Vladimir Horowitz; for the third ARD programs a 13-part TV series Die großen Tenöre der Schellack-Ära. As a freelance author he wrote for the magazines opernwelt, Fono Forum and Musik und Theater. Since 1997 he was a freelancer for the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung. In 2008 he revised his study Die großen Sänger and brought it up to date, now in four volumes. For ten years he was a member of the program committee of the International Stuttgart Stimmtage. From 2005 to his death in 2026, Kesting was a member of the jury of the singing competition Neue Stimmen.

Kesting died on 5 June 2026, at the age of 85.[1]

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