Marcus Farnsworth
Baritone
Media
with the BBC Symphony Orchestra and Gergely Madaras. 2016
News
Marcus Farnsworth makes both his Garsington Opera and his role debut on 18th June as Harlequin in Strauss Ariadne auf Naxos. Performances until 21st July.
MORENews
Marcus Farnsworth appears in recital in Barcelona at the Recinte Modernista de Sant Pau with Sholto Kynoch on 15 May as part of the Lied Festival Victoria de los Ángeles,...
MORENews
January sees Marcus Farnsworth singing in a concert of Purcell’s semi-opera King Arthur with Vox Luminis, conducted by Lionel Meunier, at the Salle Gaveau in Paris.
MORE“As dangerous Eddy, the award-winning young baritone Marcus Farnsworth is electrifying. He has no trouble with the demotic accent and conveys the character’s anger, panic and perky charm with intensity and empathy. He also has an instinctive musicality that never makes the vocal line sound over-studied or phoney. He must have a great career ahead of him.”
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 with Malcolm Martineau, Julius Drake, Graham Johnson, James Baillieu as well as the Myrthen Ensemble with Joseph Middleton and the Nash Ensemble. 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 and at Opéra de Lille with Simon Lepper.
Highlights
- Richard Strauss – Harlequin Ariadne auf Naxos – Garsington Opera
- John Adams Doctor Atomic; Turnage The 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 include Guglielmo Così fan tutte, Strephon Iolanthe and Bill Bobstay in HMS Pinafore and this season he reprises the role of Strephon. Other recent and future plans include 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; two European tours of Purcell King Arthur with the Gabrieli Consort and Vox Luminis, and recitals at Snape Maltings with Malcolm Martineau as part of their Britten Song Project and the Fundacion Juan March Madrid with Sholto Kynoch.
Past highlights include 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 his debut at Teatro Real Madrid in Kurt Weill Street Scene.
Previous operatic roles have included Sid in Britten Albert Herring in concert with the BBC Symphony Orchestra; Ned Keene Peter Grimes at the Edinburgh International Festival as well as on tour and recorded with the Bergen Philharmonic Orchestra conducted by Edward Gardner; Demetrius A Midsummer Night’s Dream on tour with the Aix-en-Provence Festival and Eddy in Turnage Greek for Boston Lyric Opera.
As well as many new works, including Colin Matthews The Great Journey at the Worcester Three Choirs Festival; Turnage The Silver Tassie;, the world première of 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.
FOR USE IN THE 2023/24 SEASON
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