Born in Dresden, Stephan was an early winner of the Wigmore Hall International Song Competition. He has given recitals throughout the world, including regular appearances at Wigmore Hall, London as well as Carnegie Hall, New York, Concertgebouw Amsterdam, Vienna Konzerthaus, Klavierfestival Ruhr, La Monnaie Brussels, Schleswig-Holstein Festival, Santiago de Compostela, BBC Radio 3, Musée d’Orsay, Paris, Oxford Lieder Festival and the Vocal Arts Series in Washington with pianists Graham Johnson, Eugene Asti, Roger Vignoles, Iain Burnside, Simon Lepper, Joseph Middleton and Sholto Kynoch.

He sings with the leading modern and period orchestras both in the UK and abroad performing works which include Britten’s War Requiem; Handel’s Messiah; Berlioz’s L’enfance du Christ; Haydn’s Seasons and The Creation; Elgar’s The Dream of Gerontius; and Mendelssohn’s Elijah.

His opera roles have included Begearss in Milhaud’s La mère coupable at Theater an der Wien; Golaud in Pélleas et Mélisande with English Touring Opera; Bruno in MacMillan’s Parthenogenesis for the Royal Opera, Covent Garden; Moritz in Mernier’s Frühlings Erwachen at Opéra National du Rhin; Wolfram in Tannhäuser and Papageno in Die Zauberflöte at La Monnaie, Brussels.

Stephan made his Proms debut in 2002 in St Matthew Passion with Trevor Pinnock and his regular Bach performances since then include St John Passion with the Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra; Easter Oratorio with the Gabrieli Consort and Paul McCreesh; Christmas Oratorio with the London Philharmonic Orchestra; St Matthew Passion with the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment directed by Mark Padmore; and with The Monteverdi Choir and Sir John Eliot Gardiner (also recorded on CD).

He was a member of the Dresden Kreuzchor before studying at the Hochschule der Kunste, Berlin and the Guildhall School of Music and Drama in London.