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The American mezzo, Rebecca Martin, was born in Saigon, Vietnam. Initially she studied piano before beginning a course in singing at Goshen College, Indiana USA. While still studying she won the First Prize in a Young Artists Competition (Bethlehem, Pennsylvania) and First Prize in the Indiana Music Teachers’ Association Competition.
From 1991 to 1994 Rebecca Martin sang with the Bayerischer Rundfunk in Munich. During this time she continued her studies with Julia Faulkner (Bavarian State Opera, Munich / Wiener Staatsoper), Professor Hanna Ludwig in Salzburg and Karin Mitzscherling in Dresden.
Beginning in 1995 and ending in the summer of 1999, Rebecca Martin was a principal-ensemble member of the Anhalt Theatre in Dessau, appearing in operas such as Anna Bolena (Donizetti), La Traviata, I due Foscari, and Otello (Verdi). Her interpretation of Cenerentola in Rossini’s opera of the same name was highly praised, and she also attracted considerable attention in the role of the child in L’Enfant et les Sortilèges (Ravel). From the 1999-2000 season onwards, she will sing with the Nuremberg Opera.
Her concert repertoire includes all the popular oratorios by J.S. Bach, George Frideric Handel, and Mendelssohn. She has regularly performed both J.S. Bach’s St John Passion (BWV 245) and W.A. Mozart's Requiem in the Herkulesaal (Münchner Residenz). Along with members of the Bamberger Symphoniker, she organised the first Prom concert in their newly-opened Philharmonie. In addition she works frequently with the Thomanerchor (Leipzig).
Rebecca Martin also likes to perform less famous pieces of music. She sang a selection of folksongs by Luciano Berio in a live MDR broadcast made from the Anhalt Theatre. She performed alongside the Ensemble United Berlin with the same programme in the Berliner Konzerthaus. Among the singers who have studied with her and/or attended her master-classes: Lucia Boisserée (Soprano). |
