Marcus Farnsworth
Baritone
Credit: Marcus Roth
2024 Aldeburgh Festival Britten “Curlew River”
Media
with the BBC Symphony Orchestra and Gergely Madaras. 2016
News
Marcus Farnsworth takes part in concert performances of Jonathan Dove’s new opera Uprising in Saffron Hall on 15 and 16 March, with and the Scottish premiere taking place with the...
MORENews
Marcus Farnsworth recently appeared at the Aldeburgh Festival at short notice to perform the Traveller in Britten’s Curlew River, prompting Rian Evans in The Guardian to write “…Marcus Farnsworth was...
MORENews
June sees the start of a European tour for Marcus Farnsworth with Vox Luminis, singing Purcell King Arthur and The Fairy Queen. The tour takes in Bilbao, Paris, Dortmund, Belgium...
MORE...while Marcus Farnsworth was acutely sensitive as the Traveller, his compassion helping define the overall emotional trajectory.
Marcus Farnsworth is a past first prize-winner of the Wigmore Hall/Kohn Foundation International Song Competition and has performed many times at Wigmore Hall. He has also appeared in recital at the Concertgebouw Amsterdam and La Monnaie, Brussels with Julius Drake; on a UK tour of Schubert Winterreise with James Baillieu; for Leeds Lieder with Graham Johnson; at Snape Maltings with Malcolm Martineau and the Fundacion Juan March Madrid with Sholto Kynoch.
Highlights
- Richard Strauss – Harlequin Ariadne auf Naxos– Garsington Opera
- John Adams Doctor Atomic; TurnageThe Silver Tassie– BBC Symphony Orchestra
- Bill Bobstay HMS Pinafore; Strephon Iolanthe; Guglielmo Cosi fan Tutte – English National Opera
- Bach Matthew Passion– Antwerp Symphony Orchestra
- Candide and James McMillan’s St John Passion– London Symphony Orchestra
- Street Scene– Kurt Weill – Teatro Real Madrid
Biography
His regular appearances for English National Opera feature Guglielmo Così fan tutte, Bill Bobstay in HMS Pinafore, Strephon Iolanthe, and Noye Noye’s Fludde in a collaboration with Theatre Royal Stratford East.
Current and recent highlights include Uprising a new opera by Jonathan Dove performed at Saffron Hall and with the Royal Scottish National Orchestra; The Traveller in Britten’s Curlew River at the Aldeburgh Festival staged by Deborah Warner and his Canticles in concert with Julius Drake and Dame Harriet Walter for Temple Music; his debut at Garsington Opera singing Harlequin in Ariadne auf Naxos; orchestrated Schubert songs with the BBC Philharmonic Orchestra; appearances at the Three Choirs Festival and European tours of Purcell King Arthur with the Gabrieli Consort and The Fairy Queen with Vox Luminis.
He has also sung Candide with the London Symphony Orchestra conducted by Marin Alsop; Maxwell Davies Eight Songs for a Mad King at the BBC Proms with the Birmingham Contemporary Music Group conducted by Sian Edwards; HK Gruber’s Frankenstein!! with the Aurora Orchestra and Nicholas Collon in Cologne and roles in Kurt Weill Street Scene at Teatro Real Madrid.
Other previous operatic roles have included Eddy in Turnage Greek for Boston Lyric Opera; Sid in Britten’s Albert Herring with the BBC Symphony Orchestra, and Ned Keene Peter Grimes at the Edinburgh International Festival with the Bergen Philharmonic Orchestra conducted by Edward Gardner.
As well as many new works, including Colin Matthews The Great Journey; Turnage The Silver Tassie; Cheryl Hoad’s Last Man Standing and Hubbard in John Adams’ Doctor Atomic conducted by the composer with the BBC SO, Marcus’s expansive concert repertoire includes Britten War Requiem; Elgar The Apostles; Orff Carmina Burana; Berlioz L’enfance du Christ and the Brahms and Fauré Requiem with conductors including François-Xavier Roth, Paul McCreesh and Bernard Labadie.
He has also sung Bach St Matthew Passion and St John Passion (Christus and Arias) with many symphony and period orchestras, most recently with Antwerp Symphony Orchestra and the Gabrieli Consort.
Marcus is the Founder and Artistic Director of the Southwell Music Festival.
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Email: mr@maxinerobertson.com