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After completing his studies
in political science and communication science, the
Dutch tenor Marcel Reijans began studying voice at the
Sweelinck Conservatory in Amsterdam in 1990. From 1994
to 1996 he studied at the Curtis Institute of Music
in Philadelphia, earning a Master of Music degree in
Opera. He won first prize in the Cristina Deutekom Concours
in 1996 and represented The Netherlands at the Cardiff
Singer of the World Competition in 1997.
Mr. Reijans regularly performs
opera, recitals and oratoria throughout the
world. His wide range of repertoire encompasses works
from the 17th to the 21st century. He has been a guest
at diverse festivals varying from the Grachtenfestival
and the Oude Muziek Festival in The Netherlands to the
famed festivals of Aix-en-Provence, Tanglewood and the
BBC Proms. Marcel Reijans has worked with conductors
such as Abel, Atherton, Barenboim, de Billy, Bychkov,
Chailly, Eschenbach, Eötvös, Gergiev, Haenchen,
Halsey, Hengelbrock, Jacobs, Koopman, Layer, Montgomery,
Ozawa, Rattle, Renes, Soustrot, Spanjaard, de Vriend,
de Waart and van Zweden and has sung with the Chicago
Symphony Orchestra, Koninklijk Concertgebouworkest,
Rotterdams Philharmonisch Orkest, Boston Symphony Orchestra,
Staatskapelle Dresden, Radio Filharmonisch Orkest, Birmingham
Symphony Orchestra, Residentie Orkest, NDR Sinfonieorchester,
Amsterdams Barok Orkest and Combattimento Consort Amsterdam.
Acclaimed for his perfomances
of Mozart, Marcel Reijans has sung Ferrando
Così fan tutte (Hamburgische Staatsoper,
Semperoper Dresden, Schwetzinger Festspiele, Nationale
Reisopera and at the Montreux, Baden-Baden and Innsbruck
festivals), Don Ottavio Don Giovanni (Liceu
Barcelona, New York City Opera, De Nederlandse Opera
and Nationale Reisopera), Tamino Die Zauberflöte
(Liceu Barcelona, Boston Lyric Opera, Opéra National
de Lyon, Opéra de Marseille, Angers Nantes Opéra
and the Nationale Reisopera), Agenore Il re pastore
(CD recording) and the title role in Mitridate,
rè di Ponto (CD recording).
Additional opera roles have included
Tom Rakewell The Rake's Progress (Nationale
Reisopera), Fenton Falstaff (Hamburgische Staatsoper),
Chevalier de la Force Dialogues des Carmélites
(De Nederlandse Opera), Anatol Vanessa (Palermo,
Italy), Graf Elemer Arabella (De Vlaamse Opera),
Walther von der Vogelweide Tannhäuser
(De Nederlandse Opera, Festspielhaus Baden-Baden), Andres
Wozzeck (La Monnaie, Brussels), Raaff Raaff
(De Nederlandse Opera), Narraboth Salome (Opéra
National de Montpellier), Kudrjáš Kát’a
Kabanová (Nationale Reisopera), Jones Johnny
& Jones (Dresdner Musikfestspiele), Grigory
Boris Godunov (Nationale Reisopera), Hylas
Les Troyens (De Nederlandse Opera, Genève
Opera), Scaramuccio Ariadne auf Naxos (Liceu
Barcelona), Aeneas Dido and Aeneas (Malaga),
Candide Candide (Nationale Reisopera), Hippolyte
Hippolyte et Aricie (St. Louis), Ernesto Don
Pasquale (Opera Zuid), Janek Vêc Makropulos
(De Nederlandse Opera, Opera Zuid and Aix-en-Provence
with Sir Simon Rattle), Paris King Priam (Nationale
Reisopera) and Ein junger Seemann Tristan und Isolde
(De Nederlandse Opera).
Mr. Reijans has also performed operatic roles in concert
such as Anatol Vanessa (ZaterdagMatinee with
Jaap van Zweden), Narraboth Salome (Hong Kong
Philharmonic Orchestra conducted by Edo de Waart), Camille
Die Lustige Witwe (Vocal Festival in the Concertgebouw),
Faust La Damnation de Faust (BBC National Orchestra
of Wales, Cardiff), Ein junger Seemann Tristan und
Isolde (Carnegie Hall, Chicago Symphony Orchestra
with Daniel Barenboim), Laërte Hamlet
(ZaterdagMatinee), Paris King Priam (BBC Proms,
Royal Albert Hall) and Le Berger Oedipus Rex
(Christmas matinee 2001 with the Koninklijk Concertgebouw-orkest
with Riccardo Chailly).
Marcel Reijans maintains an active
concert career and has sung performances of
Elias and Paulus (Mendelssohn), Weihnachtsoratorium
(Bach), Messiah and La Resurrezione
(Händel), the arias from Johannes and
Matthäus Passion (Bach), as the Evangelist
in Matthäus Passion (Bach), Ninth
Symphony and Mass in C major (Beethoven),
Requiem and Kröningsmesse (Mozart),
Die Schöpfung (Haydn) and Serenade
for Tenor, Horn and Strings (Britten).
His future engagements include the
roles of Nando (Tiefland) Liceu Barcelona,
Matteo (Arabella) Staatsoper Hamburg and at
the ZaterdagMatinee in the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam:
Orlando (Orlando Paladino) and Kunz Vogelgesang (Die
Meistersinger von Nurnberg). In the coming seasons
he can be heard at De Nederlandse Opera in the roles
of Remendado Carmen, Narraboth Salome
and Don Basilio in the reprise of Le nozze di Figaro.
In addition to an extensive solo career, Marcel Reijans
is the artistic leader of the Dutch ensemble Frommermann.
In 2005 Reijans brought together a group of five singers
and a pianist to perform music of the Comedian Harmonists.
In just a short time this ensemble, named Frommermann
(after Harry Frommermann, the founder of the Comedian
Harmonists), has become a success story. Shortly after
their debut at the Grachtenfestival in Amsterdam, Frommermann
was invited to perform at the annual Koninginneconcert
(‘Queen’s Concert’) at the Noordeinde
Palace in The Hague.
This concert, attended by HRH Queen Beatrix, the royal
family and many esteemed guests, was also received with
much acclaim. Dutch public television service NPS created
a ‘making of’ documentary which, together
with the concert itself, was broadcast nationwide on
Koninginnedag (‘Queen’s Day’) 2006.
In August 2008 Frommermann performed in the famed 'Prinsengrachtconcert'
(the largest outdoor podium for classical music in the
Netherlands) for an enthousiastic audience of 10,000
people.
In October 2007 Frommermann released the cd 'Music of
the Comedian Harmonists' with Channel Classics and exactly
a year later their second cd will follow with American
and Dutch evergreens from the 30's and 40's.
Frommermann has performed throughout the Netherlands,
Germany and France and in the 2008/2009 season has more
than 30 concerts scheduled in the Netherlands and Germany
with the new theater show 'Holland-America
Line'.
26 August 2008
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