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The German baritone, Marcus Niedermeyr, studied singing with Hermann Christian Polster at the Mendelssohn Bartholdy Conservatorium in Leipzig and completed his studies with distinction at the Basel Music Academy in the class of Kurt Widmer. His particular interest in Lieder inspired him to attend Norman Shetler’s class at the Conservatorium in Vienna and courses with Dalton Baldwin, Peter Schreier, Gérard Wyss and Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau. Classes with Barbara Schlick in the Baroque repertoire led to further studies in Baroque performance practice with René Jacobs at the Schola Cantorum Basiliensis. In recent years he has benefited from vocal technique lessons with Hans-Joachim Beyer in Leipzig.
In 1998 Marcus Niedermeyr was a prize winner at the International Bach Competition in Leipzig. Since then he has performed throughout Europe with a broad concert repertoire including Monteverdi’s Vespers, the oratorios, passions and cantatas of J.S. Bach and George Frideric Handel, W.A. Mozart’s Requiem, Haydn’s Creation and The Seasons, Felix Mendelssohn’s St. Paul, Johannes Brahms’ German Requiem and numerous 20th century works including first performances of works by Martin Derungs and Paul Suits.
He performed Johann Rosenmüller’s Marienvesper with Konrad Junghänel and Cantus Cölln, J.S. Bach’s B Minor Mass (BWV 232) with Jordi Savall in Vienna and Barcelona, Bach cantatas and Magnificat (BWV 243) with Peter Schreier, J.S. Bach’s St. Matthew Passion (BWV 244) with the Münchener Bach-Chor at the Munich Philharmonic, J.S. Bach’s Christmas Oratorio (BWV 248) at St. Thomas’ Church in Leipzig with the Thomanerchor Leipzig and the Gewandhausorchester Leipzig, J.S. Bach’s St. Matthew Passion (BWV 244) at the Amsterdam Concertgebouw and St. John Passion (BWV 245) at the Lucerne Festival with Sigiswald Kuijken and La Petite Bande, J.S. Bach’s B Minor Mass ((BWV 232)) with the Nederlandse Bachvereniging at the festival for early music in Regensburg, J.S. Bach's St. John Passion (BWV 245) with Reinhard Goebel in Padua, J.S. Bach’s Magnificat ((BWV 243)) with Helmuth Rilling, G.F. Handel’s Carmelite Vespers with Andrew Parrott in Basel, G.F. Handel’s Messiah with Michel Corboz and Israel in Egypt with Paul Dombrecht and Il Fondamento, Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach’s Israel in the Wilderness with Michael Schoener at St. Michael’s church in Hamburg and the Frauenkirche in Dresden, Haydn’s Harmoniemesse with Ton Koopman at the Tonhalle in Zürich, L.v. Beethoven’s Christus am Ölberg with Christoph Spering and Das Neue Orchester Köln in Oslo and J. Brahms’ German Requiem with the Dresdner Kreuzchor and the Dresdner Philharmonie at the Kreuzkirche in Dresden. He has also sang in concerts with Christophe Coin, Richard Egarr, and Het Brabants Orkest, among others.
Marcus Niedermeyr appears regularly with small chamber ensembles including performances with the Schoenberg Ensemble Amsterdam of Francis Poulenc’s Le bestiaire and the first Swiss performance of the Neapolitanischen Lieder by Hans Werner Henze. He sang the rarely performed Notturno by Othmar Schoek with the renowned Carmina Quartet, Zürich. He performs a broad repertoire of song ranging from the Baroque period to contemporary works, with particular emphasis on the major song cycles of Schubert, Schumann, J. Brahms and Wolf. He has performed song recitals in Vienna, Leipzig, Geneva, Zürich and Madrid with partners including Christine Schornsheim, Norman Shetler, Gerard Wyss, Hendrich Bräunlich, Hans Adolfsen and Georges Starobinski.
Marcus Niedermeyr began his career on the opera stage in Paris appearing in Monteverdi’s Il ritorno d’Ulisse in patria and Georg Philipp Telemann’s Der geduldige Sokrates under the direction of Jean-Claude Malgoire. As part of the young artists’ programme at the opera in Stuttgart he appeared as Mercury in Cupid and Death with music by Gibbons and Locke and as Don Quichotte in Manuel de Falla’s El retablo de Maese Pedro. In Basel he sang the role of Dandini in Rossini’s Cenerentola and Sprecher in W.A. Mozart’s The Magic Flute and in Zürich he appeared as Pish-Tush in The Mikado by Gilbert and Sullivan with the Pocket Opera Zürich under the direction of Howard Griffiths. At the Schönbrunn opera festival in Vienna he sang Dr. Falke in Die Fledermaus by Johann Strauss in 2007 and 2008 and in the same festival he made his debut as Don Alfonso in W.A. Mozart’s Così fan tutte in 2010. His stage performances have also included Simone in W.A. Mozart's La finta semplice, G.P. Telemann's Don Quichotte in a production with the Oper Leipzig.
Numerous CD and radio recordings document Marcus Niedermeyr’s career. More recent recordings include Bach’s St. Matthew Passion (BWV 244) and B Minor Mass (BWV 232) with La Petite Bande under the direction of Sigiswald Kuijken, the world premiere recording of Matinas do Natal by Manuel de Portugal with Ensemble Turicum, Sufi/Bach – Orient meets Occident with Burhan Öcal and Howard Griffiths, and Oskar Nedbal’s operetta Die Winzerbraut under the direction of Herbert Moog. |
