On Monday, Jonas Kaufmann received the Maximilian Order, the highest award that an artist from the Free State of Bavaria can receive in Munich.

Bavaria’s Prime Minister Markus Söder (CSU) praised Kaufmann as the “tenorissimo of our time” and noted that he is “the most sought after, most versatile, and exciting tenor among opera singers in the world.”

Kaufmann was honored alongside composer Jörg Widmann and the director of the Max Planck Institute of Biochemistry, Petra Schwille.

Kaufmann recently returned to the Metropolitan Opera and finished a new production of “Otello” at the Bayerische Staatsoper. He is currently preparing his role debut as Eisenstein in “Die Fledermaus” and will begin his 2019 on tour performing Mahler’s “Das Lied von der Erde.”

He will also sing “Fidelio” at the Bayerische Staatsoper and “La Forza del Destino” with Anna Netrebko at the Royal Opera House in 2019.