He performs on the world’s greatest opera and concert stages, but Philipp Mathmann also practises another particularly demanding profession: medicine. This double life enriches his daily existence, makes it more intense… even if the two spheres sometimes collide! 
By Philipp Mathmann
A sopranist and countertenor, Philipp Mathmann juggles many responsibilities: alongside his singing career, he is a senior consultant physician in phoniatrics and paediatric audiology at Münster University Hospital, a professor, politically and socially engaged, while also leading an intense family life. In this diary, he opens the doors to a bustling daily routine—often exhausting, never dull.
October 6–12: Minden, medicine, and balancing roles
Monday morning, 5 a.m. I set off for Minden University Hospital, where I carry out various specialized procedures in vocal medicine, both surgical and conservative, as well as consultations for children. Above all, however, I am currently completing my second specialization in otorhinolaryngology there. I spend the entire week on site: operations, specialized outpatient clinics, a lecture on swallowing disorders for final-year medical students, and a twenty-four-hour on-call shift.
Medical work has its own gravity. It pulls you firmly into the present moment, to the point of making you forget, for a while, that in another part of your life you step onto a stage to make art. When I am an artist, I am an artist; when I am a doctor, I am a doctor. Over the years, I have learned to draw a clear boundary between these roles, so as not to lose myself—and not to exhaust those around me.
After the days at the clinic, however, I head every evening to my rehearsal studio in Minden. I have come to understand that in every place where I work regularly, I need a place to sing. It forms a logistical triangle between Münster, Minden, and Berlin. Three places. Three different worlds.
I have to cancel a dinner with friends. Learning programmes and vocal preparation for Berlin and Freiburg take precedence over everything else. Discipline has nothing heroic about it: it is simply necessary.
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