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The German mezzo-soprano, Franziska Markowitsch, studied Roman languages and literature at the Freie Universität Berlin and school music at the Universität der Künste Berlin, majoring in flute, choir conducting at the Conservatoire de musique de Genève with Michel Corboz and singing with Kammersängerin Professor Regina Werner-Dietrich at the Hochschule für Musik Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy in Leipzig. She was able to gain experience on the opera stage in numerous university productions, for example as the 3rd Lady in W.A. Mozart's Die Zauberflöte or as Bradamante in George Frideric Handel's Alcina. She was a scholarship holder of the DAAD and the Stuttgarter Bachakademie and attended master-classes with Professor Jutta Schlegel, Professor Hedwig Fassbender and Professor Edith Wiens. She is currently being coached vocally by Tanja Ariane Baumgartner.
After completing her studies in 2007, Franziska Markowitsch was given a permanent position in the RIAS-Kammerchor Berlin. Since then, she has taken part in numerous concerts with the choir at home and abroad, in chamber concerts, world premieres and CD productions as an ensemble singer and soloist. In addition to her work in the RIAS-Kammerchor Berlin, she is very active in concert activities and can count conductors such as Marcus Creed, Philippe Herreweghe, Hans-Christoph Rademann, Jörg-Peter Weigle, Gabriel Garrido, Leonardo García-Alarcón and orchestras such as the Orchestre des Champs-Elysée, Concerto Brandenburg, the Freiburger Barockorchester, Dresdner Barockorchester, Barockorchester L'arpa festante, Nordwestdeutsche Philharmonie and Staatskapelle Halle among her partners.
In numerous concerts, Franziska Markowitsch has performed the alto part, including in J.S. Bach's Mass in B minor BWV 232, Weihnachts-Oratorium BWV 248, Matthäus-Passion BWV 244, and Johannes-Passion BWV 245; G.F. Handel's Messiah, W.A. Mozart's Masses, Felix Mendelssohn's Elias and Paulus; Maurice Duruflé's Requiem, Rossini's Petite Messe Solennelle, M. Bruch's Das Lied von der Glocke and Johannes Brahms's Alto Rhapsody. Her opera engagements include Orpheus in Gluck's Orpheus und Eurydike at the Schauspielhaus Leipzig, G.F. Handel's Ino in Semele, Storgè in Jephtha and Bradamante in Alcina.
In addition, Franziska Markowitsch is active in various chamber music ensembles, including with the composer and guitarist Ulrike Merk in the "Duo Arcadie", which is dedicated to rarely played Spanish and Sephardic songs. The CD "Ay Amor", released in 2013, received numerous praised reviews. She ventured into the world of jazz with the composer and jazz pianist Ulrike Haage, the results of which can be heard on the CD "In:Finitum" released in 2011. She is particularly interested in arranging Lieder recitals. In the 2019 season, she gave several concerts with the pianist Liana Vlad to mark Clara Schumann's 200th birthday in Berlin, Freiburg and Strasbourg, which were also broadcast on Deutschlandfunk Kultur.
From 2008 to 2016, Franziska Markowitsch successfully passed on her singing experience to the conducting students at the Hochschule für Musik Berlin Hanns Eisler through a teaching assignment. She benefited not only from the many artistic suggestions as an active singer, but also from her extensive pedagogical training. She is currently doing her doctorate in instrumental and vocal pedagogy at the Hochschule für Musik in Freiburg. She currently lives in Berlin, Germany. |
