English-German tenor Rufus Müller was acclaimed by The New York Times following a performance in Carnegie Hall as ...easily the best tenor I have heard in a live Messiah. He is a leading Evangelist in Bach's Passions and his unique, dramatic interpretation of this rôle has confirmed his status as one of the world's most sought-after performers (...a sensational Evangelist — NY Times). He gave the world premiere of Jonathan Miller's acclaimed production of the St Matthew Passion, which he also recorded for United and broadcast on BBC TV; he repeated his performance in three revivals of the production at the Brooklyn Academy of Music in New York.


In demand for oratorio and opera, Rufus Müller has worked with many leading conductors, including Franz Welser-Möst, Sir John Eliot Gardiner, Sir Roger Norrington, John Nelson, Ivor Bolton, Richard Hickox, Nicholas McGegan, Gustav Leonhardt, Frans Brüggen, Trevor Pinnock, Philippe Herreweghe, Joshua Rifkin, Andrew Parrott, Nicholas Kraemer and Ivan Fischer; and with orchestras such as The Cleveland Orchestra, Monteverdi Orchestra, London Classical Players, The Philharmonia Orchestra, BBC Symphony Orchestra, The English, Scottish and Swedish Chamber Orchestras, The English Concert, The Orchestra of St. Luke's and Musica Sacra in New York, St. Paul's Chamber Orchestra, The Academy of Ancient Music, Freiburger Barockorchester, Tafelmusik Baroque Orchestra, Philharmonia Baroque Orchestra. He has given solo recitals in the Wigmore Hall in London as well as for BBC Radio, and in Munich, Frankfurt, Tokyo, Sapporo, Barcelona, Madrid, Utrecht, Paris, Salzburg and New York. Rufus has had a regular partnership with pianist Maria João Pires with whom he performed in Spain, Portugal, Germany, Ireland, Japan and the UK for twelve years, notably in a three-concert Schubertiade in Spain and London's Wigmore Hall. With period fortepianist Christoph Hammer he has given numerous recitals in Cologne, Munich, Augsburg, Frankfurt, Barcelona, as well as for WDR (West German Radio), NDR (North German Radio), and HR (Hessian Radio).


Operatic rôles include Tamino (The Magic Flute) for Garsington Opera, Ottavio (Don Giovanni) in Tokyo, Lucano (L'Incoronazione di Poppea) for Houston Grand Opera, the title rôles in Rameau's Pygmalion and Lully’s Persée for Opéra Atelier in Toronto, the title rôle in Monteverdi’s Orfeo with Opera Zuid in the Netherlands, Aminta in Peri's Euridice for Opéra de Normandie, and in four Handel operas: as Giuliano in Rodrigo with Alan Curtis in Siena and recorded on Virgin Veritas, Alessandro in Poro in Halle with Paul Goodwin, Lurcanio in Ariodante in Göttingen with Nicholas McGegan, released on a prize- winning disc by Harmonia Mundi USA, and the title rôle in the US premiere of Handel’s pastiche opera Giove in Argo with Robert Bass in New York's Lincoln Center. He also sang Tersandre in Lully’s Roland with René Jacobs in Paris, Lisbon and Montpellier, Castor in Rameau's Castor et Pollux in Magdeburg, Il Ritorno di Ulisse in Patria in Athens, Florence and Cremona, Oronte in Alcina with Paul Goodwin in Montreux, Soliman in Mozart’s Zaïde with Ivor Bolton in London, Ottavio in Mozart's Don Giovanni in Tokyo, the title rôles in Mozart's La Clemenza di Tito in Germany and in the modern-day premiere of Manuel Garcia's Don Chisciotte which toured Spain as part of the country's celebrations of Cervantes’ 400th anniversary.In 2020, during the worst days of the pandemic restrictions, Rufus took part in a livestreamed concert performance in New York City of arias from Mozart's Il Re Pastore (Alessandro) with Little Opera Theater of New York, followed by a video version filmed on location and distributed online.


Other recordings include Bach's St John Passion and Bach Cantatas with John Elliot Gardiner for DG Archiv; Mozart's Die Zauberflöte and Beethoven’s Choral Fantasia with Roger Norrington for EMI; Dowland's First Book of Airs with lutenist Christopher Wilson for ASV; Haydn's O Tuneful Voice and songs by Benda with soprano Emma Kirkby and three recordings of 19th-century songs with Invocation, all for Hyperion; Telemann's Admiralitätsmusik on CPO and solo cantatas on Capriccio; songs by Franz Lachner with Christoph Hammer on Oehms Classics; Haydn's Creation with Edward Higginbottom on Oxford Philomusica; Handel's Messiah with the National Cathedral Washington DC and Michael McCarthy, and with Tafelmusik Baroque Orchestra and Ivars Taurins, as well as a live DVD with the same artists, first broadcast on Canadian TV; Ned Rorem's Evidence of Things Not Seen with the New York Festival of Song on New World Records; Victoria Bond's Leopold Bloom's Homecoming for Naxos American Classics; and Jim Lahti's Of Death and the Planets on Albany Records. Rufus is also the featured singer in BBC Radio’s series Tales from the Stave discussing Schubert's original Winterreise manuscript in New York’s Morgan Library.


Rufus Müller's numerous performances as the Evangelist in the Bach Passions include London, New York, Lucerne, Cologne, Munich, Toronto, Calgary, Birmingham, Göteborg, Stockholm, Copenhagen, Dortmund, Bordeaux, Washington DC. His many performances of Messiah include regular appearances at Carnegie Hall in New York, a televised tour in Spain with Trevor Pinnock and the English Concert, as well as performances in Canada, Denmark, Japan, Norway, Sweden and the UK. Numerous other concert engagements have included Bach Cantatas with John Eliot Gardiner in London, works by Bach and Handel with the Philhamonia Baroque Orchestra and Nicholas McGegan in San Francisco, and with Tafelmusik Baroque Orchestra and Ivan Taurins, a European tour of Casals’ El Pessebre with the Berlin Symphony Orchestra, Bach's Magnificat at the BBC Proms, Finzi's Dies Natalis with the Orchestra della Svizzera Italiano, Britten’s Serenade in Toronto and Düsseldorf, Mendelssohn's Elias in A Coruña and Die Erste Walpurgisnacht in Las Palmas, and Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony in Stockholm, Toronto and New York.


The pre-and-post-pandemic seasons included both Bach Passions and Handel Messiah in New York, Charleston, Washington DC, Carmel Bach Festival, The Royal Albert Hall, and Canterbury Cathdedral; Bach Christmas Oratorio in Washington, Haydn's Creation in New Jersey, Britten's opera Owen Wingrave in New York; Ottavio in Mozart’s Don Giovanni in Tokyo, Winterreise with pianist Kayo Iwama in Bard’s Fisher Center and in Boston, recitals with New York guitarist David Leisner as well as recitals and masterclasses in Japan. For Beethoven's 250^th anniversary year, Rufus' latest recording, produced during the pandemic, is O Sweet Were the Hours on Rubicon Classics (London), a collection of Beethoven's settings of Scottish Folksongs with period- instrument ensemble Hammer Clavier Trio.


Rufus was born in Kent, England and was a choral scholar at New College, Oxford. He studied in New York with the late Thomas LoMonaco. In 1985 he won first prize in the English Song Award in Brighton, and in 1999 was a prize winner in the Oratorio Society of New York Singing Competition.