MARCO BAKKER

Marco Bakker

Marco Bakker is widely known for his many radio and television performances in the Netherlands and abroad as well as for his New Year's concerts. His repertoire includes 60 operatic roles which he performs in opera houses in the Netherlands and beyond. He also sing operettas, oratorios and musicals and ...
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Instruments

bariton, zang

Mentioned in the biography of

1980   Cristina Deutekom
1988   Het Goede Doel
1990   De Jazzpolitie

Biography Marco Bakker

Marco Bakker is widely known for his many radio and television performances in the Netherlands and abroad as well as for his New Year's concerts. His repertoire includes 60 operatic roles which he performs in opera houses in the Netherlands and beyond. He also sing operettas, oratorios and musicals and he is in high demand as a concert singer. Each year, Bakker performs the part of Christ in Bach's St Matthew Passion. Typical of his career is its mixture of light and classical music: “Opera, operetta and musical are not so far from each other. The most important difference lies in the manner of singing. In the first two genres, you sing with a classically trained voice, in the last you use a technique where your voice is close to your speaking voice”. (NRC Handelsblad, October 2, 2006)

1938

Jacob Marinus (Marco) Bakker is born on February 8 in Beverwijk. He has singing lessons at the Amsterdam Conservatory with Coby Riemersma, Ruth Horna, Eva Libenberg, and Philip Terke. In Munich he studies with Hans Hotter and in London with Otakar Kraus.

1965

Bakker makes his debut in the world premiere of Ton de Leeuw's opera 'De Droom' [The Dream] at the Holland Festival.

Ton de Leeuw

1966

He enters the International Vocal Competition in 's-Hertogenbosch and ends in second place.

1967

He sings the title role in Claudio Monteverdi's 'L'Orfeo' (1607) at the Holland Festival.

1968

Bakker sings important roles in Netherlands Opera productions of 'L'Orfeo', Handel's 'Giulio Cesare' (1724), and Mozart's 'Le nozze di Figaro' (1786) and 'The Magic Flute' (1791). Later he concentrates primarily on operetta.

1972

Bakker returns to the Holland Festival, this time in the role of Osmano in 'L'Ormindo' (1644) by Francesco Cavalli.

1973

Bakker sings with the Scottish Opera in Glasgow as Count Danilo Danilowitsch in Franz Lehar's 'The Merry Widow' (1905). He makes his first large tour of the United States. He gives 18 concerts with the Berlin Philharmonic in performances of Bach's 'Mass in B minor' (1749) and Haydn's 'The Creation' (1798).

1974 - 1975

At the famous Glyndebourne Festival in southern England he sings the leading role in Richard Strauss' opera 'Intermezzo' (1924). Shortly after, he sings the title role in Tchaikovsky's 'Eugene Onegin' (1878) with the Glyndebourne Touring Opera.

1992

Bakker becomes ambassador of the World Wildlife Fund.

1995

He sings the role of Tonio in Ruggiero Leoncavallo's 'I Pagliacci' in a production of the fledgling Italian Opera in Amsterdam. He is also a member of the advisory board and the artistic adviser of the opera association: “I wanted to take part most of all because I find that Dutch singers have too few opportunities in the Netherlands”. (Algemeen Dagblad, October 27, 1995).

1996

For a lavish television gala, presenter Ivo Niehe brings together The 3 Baritones (Bakker, Daniël Smid, and Henk Poort), modelled after The Three Tenors (Lucianio Pavarotti, Plácido Domingo and José Carreras). Their first performance leads to enormous success.

Ernst Daniël Smid Henk Poort

1998

Bakker is in the news after driving into a woman in the parking deck of the Amsterdam ArenA. The woman dies a short time later. Bakker, who was intoxicated at the time of the accident, is sentenced to 240 hours community service and his driver's license is suspended for a year. The incident greatly damages his public image and career.

2001

Bakker makes a concert tour of Canada.

2002

He has the role of George, one of the leading roles in Andrew Lloyd Webber's musical 'Aspects of Love'.

2004

Bakker makes various concert tours, including nine concerts in Canada and a series of concerts with the soprano Miranda van Kralingen and The Belle Epoque Orchestra of Belgium conducted by Wim Brabants.

Miranda van Kralingen

2006

He plays Old Deuteronomy in a Joop van den Ende production of Andrew Lloyd Webber's musical 'Cats'.

2008

After 12 years, The 3 Baritones (Bakker, Smid, and Poort) return for a performance at the Carré theatre in Amsterdam and then to tour Dutch theatres with L'Orchestra Particolare conducted by Maurice Luttikhuis.

Photos Marco Bakker

Audio/Video Marco Bakker