This Swiss bass, known as an outstanding oratorio and concert singer, actually began his musical studies by earning a diploma in violin playing at the Conservatory of Neuchâtel in 1963. After vocal training in Fribourg with Juliette Bise, Huttenlocher won an international singing competition held in Bratislava in 1972. In 1974, he toured Japan. With the Ensemble Vocal de Lausanne and the Choeurs de la Fondation Gulbenkian in Lisbon, he became known as a significant interpreter of the works of Bach both in concerts (Montreux Festival, Strasbourg Festival, the Ansbach Bach Weeks, Flanders Festival Weeks, Festival de la Wallonie, and the 1978 London Bach Festival) and in his first recordings. In the field of opera, he had his first success in 1975 singing the title role in Monteverdi's Orfeo, followed by appearances in Geneva in Dido and Aeneas by Purcell and in Les malheurs d'Orphée by Darius Milhaud. Huttenlocher has also sung at the State Opera of Vienna, State Opera of Berlin, the State Opera of Hamburg, at La Scala in Milan, and at the Edinburgh Festival.