BIOGRAPHY

[Not for publication; please download a short version of this biography here]

Dutch tenor Marcel Beekman [1969] is much in demand as a soloist for baroque and classical repertoire as for contemporary concert and operatic works. He has appeared with the Berliner Philharmoniker, the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra, the Orchestra of the 18th Century, Les Arts Florissants, Musica Antiqua Köln, the Academy of Ancient Music, Copenhagen Philharmonic, Real Filharmonía de Galicia, Orchestra Sinfonica di Milano Giuseppe Verdi, Gulbenkian Lisbon, the ASKO|Schönberg and all major orchestras in the Netherlands under such conductors as Sir Simon Rattle, William Christie, Iván Fischer, Frans Brüggen, Reinbert de Leeuw, Rinaldo Alessandrini, Ed Spanjaard, Jos van Veldhoven, Richard Egarr, Yakov Kreizberg, Claus Peter Flor, Steven Sloane and Gennady Rhozdestvensky. Marcel Beekman has created new works by composers Calliope Tsoupaki, Martijn Padding, Maarten Altena, Jeff Hamburg, Myriam Marbe, António Chagas Rosa, Elmer Schönberger, Roderik de Man, Bart Visman, Joost Kleppe and Matthias Kadar. His performance in the world premiere of Calliope Tsoupaki’s St. Luke Passion was accounted one of the highlights of the 2008 Holland Festival; the live recording of this piece was recently released on CD. In the 2009 edition of this important Amsterdam cultural festival, Marcel sang the Netherlands premiere of In der Matratzengruft – Mauricio Kagel’s last and unfinished composition for tenor and chamber orchestra. A highly appreciated concert with Greek love songs for tenor and wind instruments by Tsoupaki brought Beekman’s name in the
headlines of the national press in June 2010.

Marcel Beekman is mostly known for his interpretation of German baroque compositions [his recording for Deutsche Grammophon/Universal of the evangelist in a Dutch translation of Bach’s St. Matthew Passion brought him a Golden Award], but gained recognition for his devotion to the avant-garde as well. He performs in the great international concert venues [Amsterdam Concertgebouw, Barbican London, Théâtre des Champs-Élysées, Salle Gaveau and Salle Pleyel Paris, Carnegie Hall New York, Walt Disney Concert Hall Los Angeles, Auditorium Parco della Musica Luciano Berio Roma, Palau Música Catalana Barcelona, Philharmonie Berlin, Palais des Beaux Arts Bruxelles, Madrid, Saint-Petersburg, Damascus, Tokyo] and in festivals such as the Holland Festival, Utrecht Ancient Music Festival, Nederlandse Muziekdagen, Bregenzer Festspiele, Prague Festival, Saito Kinen Festival Japan, Stockholm Early Music Festival, BEMUS Belgrade, Chopin Festival Warsaw, Jornadas de Música Contemporânea de Lisboa, Festival d’Ambronay, Flanders Festival, Fadjr Festival Tehran, Les Folles Journées and Festival de La Chaise-Dieu. A considerable list of CD-, radio and TV-recordings, bears witness to his versatility.

Marcel Beekman’s operatic repertoire includes the roles of Berenice in L’Ipermestra [Cavalli], Valère/Damon/Don Carlos in Les Indes Galantes [Rameau], Casella in La Commedia [Louis Andriessen], Arthur Rimbaud in Nuit de l’enfer [Roderik de Man], the title role of Willem Breuker’s Jonah the Naysayer, 2. and 4. Jude in Salome [Strauss], Primo Sacerdote in Il Prigioniero [Dallapiccola], Laki Topalovic in the Serbian contemporary chamber opera Maratonci [Isidora Žebeljan], Lope in Don Chisciotte in Sierra Morena [Conti] and Voedster [Nurse] in the 1605 first Dutch opera Granida [P.C. Hooft]. He was much acclaimed for his performance of Arnalta in Monteverdi’s L’Incoronazione di Poppea at Theater an der Wien [Vienna], directed by Robert Carsen and impressed the audience recently in the role of dictator Zamar in Peter-Jan Wagemans’ Legende at De Nederlandse Opera. Other directors with whom Beekman worked are Stefan Herheim, Peter Stein, Peter Konwitschny, Marcel Sijm, Hal Hartley, Wim Trompert and Nicola Raab.

Marcel’s 2011/2012 schedule includes performances in the Salzburg Easter Festival, the NTR Zaterdagmatinee and the Holland Festival, as well as concert appearances with the Residentie Orkest, the Netherlands Bach Society and the Orchestra of the Eighteenth Century.

Marcel Beekman is represented by SOREK ARTISTS MANAGEMENT