Michael Steffan – Baritone

Michael Steffan is a founder member of Cantabile – The London Quartet. He was born and brought up in Cardiff, then went up to Cambridge, where he read Modern and Mediæval Languages. He subsequently returned to Cardiff to study at the Welsh College of Music and Drama, and continued his vocal training with the eminent German baritone, Gerhard Hüsch and later with celebrated Italian mezzo and teacher, Laura Sarti. He has also studied with Hugues Cuénod and Elisabeth Schwarzkopf.

Since Cantabile became a full-time concern in 1982, Michael Steffan's CV reads almost identically with that of the group, with whom he has travelled extensively, singing in an enormous variety of prestigious events and venues around the world. 

Concert and Oratorio Repertoire

As a soloist outside Cantabile, Michael has sung much of the standard bass and baritone concert and oratorio repertoire, from Handel and Bach to Brahms and Orff. He has also appeared with The Singers Company, and sang the rôle of Æneas in a performance of Dido and Æneas to inaugurate the new theatre at St. Paul's Girls' School in London, before the Queen Mother. On the recital platform he has sung Beethoven, Schumann and Mahler with pianist Malcolm Martineau. In quite a different field, he has written and performed several titles on CDs in the Voices series for the Atlantic 7 label. 

Amongst the many highlights of his career with Cantabile he includes being invited to sing privately for Herbert von Karajan, being awarded First prize in the Eurovision International Star Festival, recording a single with Tim Rice and logging the highest-ever performance by a vocal group in a hot-air balloon. 

Mike lives between Richmond Park and the River Thames in Kingston-upon-Thames, just to the south-west of London. His two children make mincemeat of him on the tennis court, but he enjoys cooking and gardening and could happily watch someone do either of these for hours on end.