|
The German bass-baritone, Markus Lemke, studied singing at the Musikhochschule in Hamburg and at the Musikhochschule in Karlsruhe, and completed his training in master-classes and more years of private lessons with Andreas Schmidt. He participated in interpretation courses (including with Thomas Quasthoff), as well as national and international singing competitions. In 1998 he was finalist at the 42nd International Singing Competition in s'Hertogenbosch (Netherlands) in concert singing (prizes have not been awarded).
Markus Lemke has made a name mainly due to his expressiveness and his vocal and stylistic versatility. The press praised his "prominent bass sonority", the "grippingly expressive" voice, his "high singing artistry" and his "visionary intensity." His artistic focus is in the concert area, where he covers a very wide repertoire from early Baroque to romantic and modern music. Moreover, he gives recitals (including Schubert, Robert Schumann, theme Lieder recitals) and sings in projects with great success, even opera (including Georges Bizet's Carmen, W.A. Mozart's Le Nozze di Figaro, the title role in opera Petr Eben's church opera Jeremias). Likewise, when he worked with world premieres of contemporary works. Concert tours have led him to France, Italy, Portugal, Finland, Netherlands, Russia (L.v. Beethoven's Missa Solemnis and Haydn Schöpfung at the St. Petersburg's Philharmonic Concert Hall), Latvia, Israel and Japan (J.S. Bach's B Minor Mass (BWV 232) in Tokyo).
Markus Lemke has received very positive response for his work with the following conductors: Matthias Breitschaft (J.S. Bach's Weihnachts-Oratorium (BWV 248) and B minor Mass (BWV 232) at the Cathedral of Mainz), Hans Martin Bäuerle (Freiburger Münster), Ralf Otto (Bachchor Mainz), Thomas Hengelbrock (Schwetzinger Festspiele), Peter Neumann (Festival La Folle Journée in Nantes and Lisbon), Christoph Schoener (including J.S. Bach's Passions at S. Michaels/Hamburg), Helmuth Rilling, Frieder Bernius (Händelfestspiele Göttingen) and Kenneth Montgomery (Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach's Magnificat).
Markus Lemke was heard on French, Dutch, Austrian and Russian radio stations and on SDR, WDR and NDR. Likewise, he participated in broadcast recordings for ARD, and numerous CD productions. In 2004 appeared on Christophorus/Note his solo CD "Hör‘, o Vater...", with romantic psalms and prayers (including first recordings of Lieder cycles by Josef G. Rheinberger and Peter Cornelius). |
