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The Greek-American soprano, director and educator, Stella Markou, obtained her Bachelor of Music degree from the Oberlin Conservatory of Music; her Master of Music degree from the Cleveland Institute of Music; and her Doctorate of Musical Arts from The University of Arizona. She is the 2005 recipient of the Arizona Community Foundation/Piper Enrichment Grant.
Hailed as ‘exquisite’ by Gramophone, Stella Markou has performed internationally as a soloist in oratorio, opera, and on the concert stage. She has been a featured guest artist with the Edinburgh Contemporary Musical Ensemble, The Consulate General of Greece, Union Avenue Opera, Masterworks Chorale, Nassau Music Society, Dance New Amsterdam Company, American Chamber Chorale, University of Nevada Las Vegas Concert Series, Ambassadors of Harmony, Arianna String Quartet, and the Nashville Ballet. A passionate performer of contemporary music, her festival work includes the Edinburgh Fringe Festival, Heidelberg New Music Festival, International Computer Music Conference, Paros Parks Festival, Naxos Music Festival, Siletz Bay Music Festival, Electronic Music Midwest, Xortos Music Festival, and the Society for Electro-Acoustic Music (SEAMUS). She opened an international Maria Callas exhibit for the Hellenic Parliament Foundation and the Consulate General of Greece.
Her stage performances include roles in Pique Dame, W.A. Mozart's Die Zauberflöte, Benjamin Britten's The Turn of the Screw, The Mikado, The Telephone, The Songstress, La Canterina and Igor Stravinsky's Histoire du Soldat, among others. She has also been a featured soloist in several masterworks, including Orff's Carmina Burana, Gabriel Fauré's Requiem, Haydn’s Lord Nelson's Mass, Johannes Brahms’ Ein deutsches Requiem, George Frideric Handel’s Messiah, Francis Poulenc’s Gloria, W.A. Mozart's Requiem, John Rutter's Gloria, and J.S. Bach’s Cantata Jauchzet Gott in allen landen (BWV 51). Her work can be found on the SEAMUS and MSR record labels.
Highly esteemed as a performer and master teacher, Stella Markou served as Director of Vocal Studies at University of Missouri-St. Louis (August 2007-May 2022) and teaching artist for Opera Theatre of St. Louis’ Artist in Training Program. During her tenure at the University of Missouri-St. Louis she built an opera program from the ground up, producing/directing/designing fifteen years of opera scenes and fully staged productions. Her directorial work in opera and in musical theater have garnered numerous national recognitions. Her opera productions of The Clever Artifice of Harriet and Margaret and The Pirates of Penzance won 1st Prize in the National Opera Association’s opera production competition, and her production of The Medium won 1st Prize in The American Prize opera production competition. The American Prize also recognized her as the 2nd Prize recipient of the Charles Nelson Reilly Prize in Directing for her production of The Medium. Since August 2022, she serves as Associate Professor and Coordinator of Voice and Opera at the University of Kansas. |
