Dutch tenor Marcel Beekman is renowned for his interpretation of operatic character roles as well as early and contemporary music.
He has performed the great German, French and Italian baroque repertoire all over Europe, the United States, Middle East, South Africa and Japan in major concert venues and festivals with conductors such as William Christie, Frans Brüggen, Leonardo Garcia Alarcón, Christophe Rousset, Richard Egarr and Reinhard Goebel. He has appeared in repertoire of later centuries with conductors such as Sir Simon Rattle, Daniele Gatti, Sir Mark Elder, Iván Fischer, Claus Peter Flor, Steven Sloane and Ed Spanjaard and with orchestras including the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra, Berliner Philharmoniker, Los Angeles Philharmonic, Dutch Radio Philharmonic Orchestra, ASKO|Schönberg and Orchestra Sinfonica di Milano Giuseppe Verdi.
Mr. Beekman is also known for his outstanding ability in avant-garde repertoire. He has worked extensively with conductors such as Reinbert de Leeuw, Sylvain Cambreling, John Adams, Marc Albrecht, Avner Biron and Jonathan Stockhammer in works by Igor Stravinsky, Alban Berg, Benjamin Britten, Nicolas Obouchov, Pascal Dusapin, Mauricio Kagel, Witold Lutoslawski, Gottfried von Einem and György Kurtág. He has premiered numerous works that have been specially composed for him: Calliope Tsoupaki, Martijn Padding, Roderik de Man, Micha Hamel, Elmer Schönberger, Jacques Bank, António Chagas Rosa and Jeff Hamburg as well as Reza Namavar, Joost Kleppe, Anke Brouwer, Bart Visman and Matthias Kadar.
His operatic repertoire includes the title roles in Orfeo by Monteverdi and Rameau’s Platée and Pygmalion, Andrès/Cochenille/Frantz/Pittichinaccio in Les contes d’Hoffmann, Aristée and Pluto/Orphée aux enfers, Berenice/L’Ipermestra, Valère, Damon, Don Carlos/Les Indes Galantes, Maître de Musique and Maître de Chant/Les Fêtes , Arnalta and Nutrice/L’Incoronazione di Poppea, Eumete/Il ritorno d’Ulisse in patria, Lope/Don Chisciotte in Sierra Morena, Basilio and Don Curzio/Le Nozze di Figaro, Tanzmeister/Ariadne auf Naxos, Prince Nilski/Igrok by Prokofiev, Adrian/Der Sturm by Martin, Mime/Das Rheingold and Siegfried, Hauptmann and Narr/Wozzeck, Pégase, Sénéchal and Prêtre/L’écume des jours by Denisov (International Diaghilev Award 2013), the title role in Jonah the Naysayer, Arthur Rimbaud/Nuit de l’enfer, Zamar/Legende and Pope Innocenzo XI in Theatre of the World by Louis Andriessen.
Marcel Beekman has appeared at De Nationale Opera Amsterdam, Salzburger Osterfestspiele and Salzburger Festspiele, Festival d’Aix-en-Provence, Theater an der Wien, Théâtre des Champs-Élysées and Opéra Comique in Paris, Théâtre du Capitole Toulouse, Opéra de Dijon, Staatstheater Stuttgart, the Bregenzer Festspiele, Holland Festival, Brooklyn Academy of Music, Lincoln Center and Carnegie Hall New York in productions by directors such as Robert Carsen, Pierre Audi, Barrie Kosky, Ivo van Hove, Claus Guth, Stefan Herheim, Tatjana Gürbaca, Hal Hartley, Nicola Raab, Katie Mitchell and Krzysztof Warlikowski.
His extensive discography includes Theatre of the World with the Los Angeles Philharmonic Orchestra (Nonesuch), nominated at the BBC Music Magazine Awards 2018 and De Nationale Opera‘s 2017 production of Wozzeck, staged by Krzysztof Warlikowski (Naxos). His widely celebrated performance of Platée in Robert Carsen’s acclaimed production for Theater an der Wien, conducted by William Christie, will be released on DVD by Unitel in August 2021.
Highlights in the season 2022/23 include house debuts in the lead role of Bababeck in Offenbach’s Barkouf at Operhaus Zurich and as Nutrice/L’incoronazione di Poppea at Gran Teatro del Liceu, returns to De Nationale Opera Amsterdam as Mr Jones in the world premiere of Alexander Raskatov’s Animal Farm, to Oper Stuttgart in the title role of Platée and to Versailles for the revival of La Finta Pazza together with Capella Mediterranea and Leonardo García Alarcón. He will also sing Goro in Schumann’s Genoveva with Helsinki Baroque in Helskini, Düsseldorf and Dresden.