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The Austrian counter-tenor, Markus Forster, gained his first musical experiences as a chorister for the Wiltener Sängerknaben, where he was the alto soloist in many concerts and tours. He was educated at the University “Mozarteum” (concert diploma with special honours in 1995) and then at the University for Music and Arts in Vienna with Helene Karusso and in the class for Lied and Oratorio of Walter Moore. In addition he attended master-classes with Kurt Widmer and Paul Esswood.
The soft timbre of his alto voice makes Markus Forster a soloist much in demand for the great Oratorios and Passions of J.S. Bach and George Frideric Handel. This concert practise leads him to Portugal (St. Martin-in-the-Fields), the Centre for Arts and Congress Luzern, to the Concertgebouw and the Westerkerk Amsterdam. Markus Forster regularly works with renowned ensembles like the Clemencic Consort, Unicorn Ensemble, Musica Florea (Prague), Barockorchester Capriccio Basel, German Händel Soloists, Musica Aeterna Bratislava, Ars Antiqua Austria and L'Orfeo Barockorchester in many European countries. Numerous radio and CD recordings are documents of this work.
Markus Forster's solo work is equally extensive and has led him to a solo concert tour to Israel, to the Wiener Musikverein, Palau de la música (Barcelona), Imperial Residence in Innsbruck, Teatro Carlo Felice (Genua), Philharmonie Bratislava and to Auditorio nacional de música (Madrid). He is a favoured guest at international music festivals like the Stockholm Early Music Festival, Kyburgiade (Switzerland), Carinthian Summer, Festival of Ancient Music Krieglach, Salzburger Mozartwochen, Styriarte, or Festvial of Ancient Music in Herne.
Beneath his broad concert repertoire, Markus Forster is also dedicated to the wonderful world of the opera. After his debut on the stage with Monteverdi's L'incoronazione di Poppea at the Schlosstheater Schönbrunn , the title role in Gluck's Orfeo ed Euridice followed in Regensburg in 1997, and, one year later, the part of Ottone in G.F. Handel's Agrippina. In summer 1999 he enchanted the audience as Platée in the the Rameau’s opera of the same name. From 1999 to 2001 Markus Forster got a guest contract at the Badische Staatstheater Karlsruhe, where he was successful as Erminio in Alessandro Scarlatti's The Triumph of Honours within the Händel Festival. Another guest engagement led him to the theatre in Ulm in 2003, where he sang Joad in G.F. Handel's Athalia. After a production of Gluck's Le Cenesi in Damtschach in summer 2003, the latest opera project of the counter-tenor was the title role in Ascanio by Antonio Lotti at the Schauspielhaus Leipzig as well as at the Marktgräflichen Opernhaus Bayreuth.
Among the singers who have studied with him and/or attended his master-classes: Eva Schoßleitner (Mezzo-soprano). |
