Annette Markert

Annette Markert is a mezzo-soprano, especially known for her performances of Baroque and Classical opera. Born in the then East German Rhône Valley region, she studied at the Hochschule für Musik, in Leipzig, one of Germany's most prestigious conservatories. She got her first professional operatic position in the nearby city of Hallé, home of Georg Frideric Handel, where she specialized in the Baroque master's operas; leading roles included those in Rinaldo, Floridante, and in his little-known pasticcio, Oreste. While she was at Hallé the city twice awarded her the Handel Prize. In 1991, she joined the roster of the opera house in Leipzig. There she sang more standard repertory, including the roles of Rosina in Rossini's Il barbiere di Siviglia, Cherubino in Mozart's Le nozze di Figaro, Dorabella in his Così fan tutte, and Olga in Tchaikovsky's Evgeny Onegin. With the reunification of Germany and the end to political impediments to traveling outside the former German Democratic Republic, Markert was now able to sing as a guest artists in such opera houses as the Theater Basle, and the Opera Châtelet of Paris in addition to the Staatsoper in Berlin. Since ending her membership in the Leipzig Opera in 1996 Markert has turned increasingly to recitals and concert performances. Her concert repertory includes a full range of great choral works, including the J.S. Bach Passions, B Minor Mass, Christmas Oratorio, Mendelssohn's Elijah and Paulus, Beethoven's Missa Solemnis, Mozart's Requiem, Haydn's "Nelson" Mass, Szymanowski's Stabat Mater, Frank Martin's Golgotha, Eisler's Deutsche Sinfonie, and Mahler's Des Knaben Wunderhorn. Notable appearances have included those in Carnegie Hall in New York with Roger Norrington and the Orchestra of St. Luke's, again with Norrington at the BBC Proms in London, with Philippe Herreweghe in the Australian Bach Festival in Melbourne, and with Kurt Masur and the New York Philharmonic Orchestra in the Canary Islands Festival in Tenerife. Other orchestras and conductors with whom she has worked include Nicolas McGegan, Armin Jordan, Michael Gielen, Helmuth Rilling, Peter Schreier, Ton Koopman, and Kurt Sanderling; the Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra, Orchestre des Champs-Elysées in Paris, the Israel Philharmonic, Music Antiqua Köln, the Vienna Philharmonic, the Orchestre Philharmonic de Radio France, and the Amsterdam Baroque Orchestra. She continues to sing Handel operas. In 1998, she sang the title role of Tolomeo in the Göttingen Handel Festival and in 2001 Partenope in the same venue. At Theater Basle she sang Alcina and the role of Sesto in Giulio Cesare in Egitto and was scheduled to return in 2002 as Caesar. Annette Markert has recorded for Decca, Harmonia Mundi France, and Erato.
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