Margaret Marshall

Margaret Marshall (Soprano)

Born: January 4, 1949 - Stirling, Scotland

The Scottish soprano, Margaret (Anne) Marshall, studied at the Royal Scottish Academy of Music and in Glasgow. She also took lessons with Edna Mitchell and Peter Pears in England and with Hans Hotter in Munich. Miss Marshall won international recognition when she was awarded the first prize at the International Competition in Munich in 1974.

This was followed by concerts throughout Europe and Margaret Marshall's recital début at the Wigmore Hall in 1975. She made her Festival Hall début singing in J.S. Bach's St. Matthew Passion (BWV 245) in 1976. She has now worked with all the major British orchestras, and appears regularly with the Royal Scottish National Orchestra and the Scottish Chamber Orchestra. Abroad she has appeared with, among others, the Orchestre de Paris, Berliner Philharmoniker, Boston Symphony Orchestra, Chicago Symphony Orchestra and New York Philharmonic Orchestra under such conductors as Claudio Abbado, Daniel Barenboim, Carlo Maria Giulini, Haitink, Zubin Mehta and Riccardo Muti.

In 1978 Margaret Marshall made her operatic début in Florence singing Euridice in Gluck's Orfeo conducted by Riccardo Muti. She then sang the Countess in Le Nozze di Figaro again with Riccardo Muti in and made her Covent Garden debut in London in the same role in 1980, and made her Covent Garden debut in London in the same role in 1980. She has performed the same work at La Scala Milan, with English National Opera, Scottish Opera and Cologne Opera. She made her début at the Salzburg Festival in 1982 singing Fiordiligi in Così fan Tutte with Riccardo Muti, a role she subsequently recorded for EMI. She has been a regular guest in Salzburg singing there in 1982-1986, 1990 and 1991. She made her first appearance in the USA as a soloist with the Boston Symphony Orchestra and New York Philharmonic Orchestra. Subsequently she made several American Tours as a concert artist. In 1988 she made her first appearance at the Vienna State Opera as Mozart’s Countess.

Margaret Marshall has performed La Traviata in Frankfurt, Le Nozze di Figaro at the Deutsche Oper Berlin, Cologne Opera, Hamburg Staatsoper and Bayerischer Staatsoper Munich, Der Rosenkavalier for Cologne opera, Die Entführung aus dem Serail in Toulouse, Don Giovanni with John Eliot Gardiner in Parma, Così fan Tutte for Zurich Opera, Die Zauberflöte, in Trieste with Arnold Ostman and La Finta Giardiniera in Montpellier.

Important concert appearances have included Benjamin Britten's War Requiem and Strauss' Four Last Songs with the Royal Scottish National Orchestra, performances in Philadelphia with Sir Neville Marriner, Messiah at the Dresden Festival, Beethoven's Missa Solemnis for Santa Cecilia in Rome and concerts in The Hague, Helsinki, Düsseldorf and Mannheim. Highlights of recent and future performances are Haydn's Creation at the Philharmonie Cologne, J.S. Bach's B minor Mass (BWV 232) with the London Philharmonic at the Royal Festival Hall, Schumann's Der Rose Pilgerfahrt for Accademia Santa Cecilia Rome, Bruckner's F minor Mass in Wuppertal and Haydn's Harmonienmesse in Hamburg, Gustav Mahler's Symphony no.4 at the Teatro Comunale Bologna, Strauss songs with the Hong Kong Philharmonic and Mozart Masses with the Scottish Chamber Orchestra.

Margaret Marshall was awarded the OBE in January 1999.