Marcus Farnsworth
Baritone
Marcus Farnsworth was awarded first prize in the 2009 Wigmore Hall International Song Competition and the Song Prize at the 2011 Kathleen Ferrier Competition.
In the forthcoming seasons Marcus will appear at Wigmore Hall with Graham Johnson and James Bailleau and at Musée d’Orsay, Paris with ‘Songsmiths’. Recent recital highlights include debuts at the Concertgebouw, Amsterdam and La Monnaie, Brussels with Mark Padmore and Julius Drake; a UK tour of Schubert Winterreise with James Baillieu; Salute to Venice with Graham Johnson for Leeds Lieder and a recital for Opéra de Lille with Simon Lepper while appearances at Wigmore Hall include the Britten Festival with Malcolm Martineau and Julius Drake and concerts with the Myrthen Ensemble and Joseph Middleton and with the Carducci Quartet. Concert plans this season and beyond include Orff Carmina Burana with the BBC Symphony Orchestra; Beethoven Missa Solemnis with the RTÉ National Symphony Orchestra, Dublin; Brahms Ein Deutsches Requiem in Hereford Cathedral; Berlioz L’enfance du Christ with the Gulbenkian Foundation in Lisbon; Bach St John Passion (bass arias) with the Ulster Orchestra; Bach St Matthew Passion and St John Passion (bass arias) on a European tour with the Gabrieli Consort and Paul McCreesh.
In the 2015/16 season he will make his debut with Welsh National Opera in the world premiere of In Parenthesis by Ian Bell, sing Demetrius A Midsummer Night’s Dream with Bergen National Opera; in concert, Kilian Der Freischütz with Sir Mark Elder and Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment and Guglielmo Così fan tutte on tour in Belgium with Baart Van Reyn and Octopus Chamber Choir. Recent highlights include Kelvin in Fujikura Solaris in Paris, Lille and Lausanne; Guglielmo, English Clerk, in Britten Death in Venice and Novice’s Friend in Billy Budd for ENO; Eddy in Turnage Greek for Music Theatre Wales on a UK tour including at ROH 2 and, again in concert, Kilian Der Freischütz with the LSO and Sir Colin Davis; Sid in Britten Albert Herring with the BBC SO and Aeneas in Purcell Dido and Aeneas with the Early Opera Company and Christian Curnyn at Wigmore Hall.
Recent concerts also include Britten War Requiem with the Adelaide Symphony Orchestra; Jesus, in Elgar The Apostles for the Three Choirs Festival; Berlioz L’enfance du Christ, and Son in the world première of David Sawer Flesh and Blood with the BBC SO; Brahms Ein Deutsches Requiem for Aldeburgh Music; Taverner Flood of Beauty with the Britten Sinfonia; Equal Voices (a new commission by Sally Beamish) with the LSO and Gianandrea Noseda; Fauré Requiem with the BBC Philharmonic Orchestra; Hades in John Barber Seven Seeds (another new commission) with Nicholas Collon and the Aurora Orchestra; Thomas Larcher Die Nacht der Verlorenen on a European tour and recording; Dvorak Te Deum with the RLPO; Monteverdi Vespers, also on a European tour, with Emmanuelle Haïm; Haydn Paukenmesse with the BBC SSO and Bernard Labadie and Peter Maxwell Davies Eight Songs for a Mad King with Wermlands Opera Orchestra, Karlstad and also on a UK tour with the Hebrides Ensemble.
Marcus graduated with a first class honours degree from Manchester University. He studied singing at and is an Associate of The Royal Academy of Music, London and is the founder and artistic director of the Southwell Music Festival.