Arts Global

One of the most versatile tenors of his generation, Mark Milhofer is as much at home in the music of Rossini as in the repertoire of Monteverdi, Mozart, Strauss or Benjamin Britten. He has built a strong reputation as a masterful interpreter of even the most demanding musical genres. Forthcoming highlights include Jan in the world premiere of Matteo D'Amico's Le Malentendu for the Macerata Festival, Giasone in Medea in Corinto (by Mayr) in St Gallen, Der Schone Herr Hermann for Dijon Opera and Narraboth in Strauss' Salome in Bologna.

Mr Milhofer was a choral scholar at Magdalen College, Oxford before going on to study at the Guildhall School of Music in London. He made his operatic debut as the Madwoman in Britten's Curlew River, recorded for CD by Koch, but it was the role of Gianetto in British Youth Opera's production of Rossini's La Gazza Ladra that brought him to the attention of public and critics alike. Subsequently invited by the As.Li.Co. opera studio in Milan to study in Italy, he worked with Renata Scotto and Leyler Gencer, singing the title role in Pergolesi's newly-discovered La Morte di S. Giuseppe. He went on to sing the role of Fenton in Verdi's Falstaff in several major theatres and made his debut for the Teatro Regio in Parma as Ramiro in Rossini's La Cenerentola, conducted by Alberto Zedda and directed by Pier Luigi Pizzi, launching his international career.

A busy concert schedule has included music by Henry Purcell at the Queen Elizabeth Hall and the Wigmore Hall in London with The King's Consort, his Proms début with the same group in Handel's Judas Maccabeus, Bach's St John Passion at St John's, Smith Square with Polyphony, and also in Milan with I Pomeriggi Musicale. He also performed Britten's Serenade for Tenor, Horn and Strings with them and again recently in Parma with Bruno Bartoletti, and has sung the War Requiem in Christ Church Cathedral, Oxford, under Paul Kildea, Orff's Carmina Burana with the Orchestra di Santa Cecilia in Rome and Rossini's Petite Messe Solennelle for the Aldeburgh Festival.

In Great Britain he made his English National Opera debut in Monteverdi's Orfeo, appeared in Purcell's The Indian Queen with the King's Consort, followed by Tamino in Mozart's Die Zauberflöte, Tebaldo in Bellini's I Capuleti e I Montecchi for the Castelward Opera in Northern Ireland, Alberto in Rossini's La Gazzetta for Garsington Opera and Dr Fitzpiers in the European première of Stephen Paulus' The Woodlanders.

Further significant appearances have included the role of Habbinas in Maderna's Satyricon, directed by Cobelli, creating the roles of Jean Cocteau in the world premières of Marcello Panni's The Banquet for the Teatro dell' Opera in Rome and Enrico in Marco Tutino's Federico II, Peter Quint in Britten's The Turn of the Screw for the Teatro Manuel in Malta, Rossini's La Scala di Seta in France, conducted by Jean Claude Malgoire, and Almaviva in Dario Fo's highly successful production of Il Barbiere di Siviglia in Holland, Belgium, Germany and Great Britain. More recent appearances include the role of Brighella in Strauss' Ariadne auf Naxos in Bari, Cimarosa's Il Matrimonio Segreto, Britten's Billy Budd and Don Narciso in Il Turco in Italia, all in Turin, Pergolesi's L'Olimpiade in Ravenna, Modena and Reggio Emilia, La Cenerentola in Nantes and Angers, a return to the role of The Madwoman in Curlew River in Trento and Pisa, Belmonte in Die Entführung aus dem Serail in Bari, Ernesto in Donizetti's Don Pasquale in Belgium, The Magician in Menotti's The Consul in Turin, Pang in Puccini's Turandot in Macerata and Seoul and had the honour of working with Zeffirelli in his production of I Pagliacci in Athens and Florence. He has just returned from a busy series of performances which included the role of Mozart in Rimsky-Korsakov's Mozart and Salieri in Rovigo, a Passion by Salieri, the role of Il Conte di Bosco Nero in Wolf-Ferrari's La Vedova Scaltra, (available on DVD and CD) Telamone in Vivaldi's Ercole sul Termodonte, Prunier in La Rondine, all for La Fenice in Venice, covered the role of Pylade in Gluck's Iphigenie en Tauride for Covent Garden, the title role in Offenbach's Orpheus in the Underworld for Cagliari Opera, Sardinia, Lysander in A Midsummer Night's Dream in Dublin, Smithers in The Emperor Jones in Ancona and Belmonte in Die Entführung in Salzburg. He has also been singing Ferrando in Giorgio Strehler's renowned production of Mozart's Così fan tutte in Beijing and Moscow, having already sung in over 80 performances throughout Europe.

Further information about Mark Milhofer may be found at his personal website, www.markmilhofer.com.