Bio
Baritone Matthew Markham has enjoyed an active career on the operatic, concert, and recital stages. He has appeared on the operatic stage with Ash Lawn Opera, Janiec Opera, Spoleto Festival, New Jersey Opera, Manhattan Opera Theater of the French Institute Alliance Française, Da Ponte Concert Opera, Westminster Opera Theater, and Florida State Opera. Roles span Mozart through lyric French and English/American opera. He is a frequent soloist in oratorio ranging Bach to Britten and has performed in prestigious concert venues including Weill Hall at Carnegie Hall in New York City and Suk Hall at the Rudolfinum in Prague, Czech Republic.
An avid interpreter of art song, he has worked with musical luminaries Martin Katz, Graham Johnson, John Harbison, Jake Heggie, Ricky Ian Gordon and the late Craig Smith in performances at Songfest in Malibu, California. Dr. Markham has participated in master classes with Elly Ameling, Wolfgang Holzmair, Helmut Deutsch, Rudolf Jansen, Edith Wiens, Robert Tear and Jorma Hynninen at the Franz Schubert Institute in Baden bei Wien, Austria where he received a diploma in Poetry and Performance of the German Lied. He has twice been selected to participate in the Baldwin-Wallace Art Song Festival in Ohio where he has worked with Warren Jones, François Le Roux, Anthony Dean Griffey, Vladimir Chernov, George Vassos, and Stephanie Blythe.
Awards include being named a Finalist in the Franco-American Vocal Academy French Art Song Competition in Tribute to Gérard Souzay; winner of various competitions including the Regional MacAllister Awards, the Glenys Gallaher Memorial Award for Musical and Academic Excellence, numerous Florida and New Jersey State and Regional National Association of Teachers of Singing competitions, winner of the Westminster Choir College Graduate Voice Competition; and various Rotary Club and regionally sponsored competitions.
Discography includes baritone soloist on the international world premier recording of Antonio Rosetti’s Requiem Es-Dur (Murray H-15), conducted by Johannes Moesus with the Camerata Filarmonica Bohemia, released commercially in 2011. He is also on the recording It’s About Love, conducted by Kenneth Dake as a member of The Marble Choir in NYC, released in 2013.
Dr. Markham continues to expand his professional development as a voice pedagogue by attending and participating in various workshops throughout the country. In July 2024, he became certified as a Level 1 YogaVoice Teacher as part of his research on the topic: “Embodied Vocal Pedagogy: Investigating the Relationship of Movement and Body Awareness on Vocal Music Practice and Performance” for which he received a Research and Creative Activity Grant Award. In early 2019, he was the recipient of a university professional development award enabling him to participate in the David Jones Voice Teacher Mentoring Program in NYC. In the summer of 2017, Dr. Markham received a University Professional Development Grant Award enabling him to participate and complete all three levels of the LoVetri Institute for Somatic Voicework™ in residence at Baldwin Wallace University. In the summer of 2015, he was selected as a professor within the University of Wisconsin system to attend Faculty College. In 2013, he received a faculty grant enabling him to participate in the 2013 Naked Voice Summer Institute at Northwestern University under the tutelage of W. Stephen Smith to which he was accepted as a voice teacher. As a NATS Teaching Intern in 2008, Dr. Markham was featured on a PBS Film Documentary and presented lectures on art song repertory and pedagogy for the college level voice student.
In the field of music research, Dr. Markham was a national recipient of the prestigious Theodore Presser Grant Award for Graduate Research in Music and a recipient of a Florida State University Dissertation Research Grant Award. These grants have enabled him to conduct research on the vocal compositions of Czech composer Petr Eben and have culminated in his doctoral treatise “A Study of Písně z Těšínska of Petr Eben.” He has collaborated with Dr. Timothy Cheek, author of Singing in Czech, in lecture recitals on this subject at the Fort Wayne Art Song Festival where he also served as guest artist/teacher, at the International Czech Song and Aria Competition at the University of Wisconsin-Green Bay, and at the University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point. Dr. Markham was published in the January/February 2015 NATS Journal of Singing: “Petr Eben’s Písně z Těšínska: A Guide for Singers, Teachers, and Coaches.”
As Director and Producer of UWSP Opera Workshop, Dr. Markham has been able to utilize his skills in stagecraft and character development. He has directed operas ranging Mozart’s Die Zauberflöte, Puccini’s Suor Angelica and Gianni Schicchi, among others. The 2023 production “Dial M for Moore Menotti” featuring Menotti’s The Telephone and The Old Maid and the Thief and Moore’s Gallantry received national award recognition with the the National American Prize Competition and the prestigious National Opera Association.
As a pedagogue, Dr. Markham has established himself as a reputable teacher of voice and has taught many students who have received awards and scholarships in regional, national, and international voice competitions; who have been accepted to summer apprentice programs at the national and international levels; and who have been accepted to some of the nation’s most renowned graduate voice programs.
Dr. Markham has been a faculty resident-artist at the Ameropa Solo and Chamber Music Festival in Prague, Czech Republic and has taught for the Metropolitan International Music Festival in NYC. Since 2018, he has taught and been affiliated with the voice faculty of the International Lyric Academy in Italy each summer.
Professional Experience
- Artist-Teacher of Voice, International Lyric Academy in Vicenza, Italy (summers 2018, 2019, with an ongoing invitation each summer)
- Registered Level 1 YogaVoice Teacher (certified July 2024)
- Artist-Teacher of Voice, Opera Carolina (summer 2023)
- Artist-Teacher of Voice, Ameropa Solo and Chamber Music Festival in Prague, Czech Republic (summers 2007, 2008, and 2013)
- Professional Developments Grants to complete the following: Voice Teacher Training Program in NYC with David Jones (2019), Somatic Voicework with Jeanie LoVetri at Baldwin-Wallace University (2017), and the Naked Voice Teacher Training Program at Northwestern University with W. Stephen Smith (2013)
- Adjudicator for competitions including the National Association of Teachers of Singing (NATS) Student Auditions at the state, regional, and national levels and for Classical Singer Competitions (ongoing)
- Solo Recital Performance at Weill Hall at Carnegie Hall (2013)
- Performances and Recordings as Soloist and Ensemble Singer for the Marble Collegiate Professional Ensemble in NYC (2010-12)
- Voice Faculty, New York University (2010-2012) and DePauw University (2009-2019)
- Selected as a teacher to participate in the National Association of Teachers of Singing (NATS) Intern Program (2008)
- Art Song Singer for the Berea (formerly Cleveland) Art Song Festival, Berea, Ohio (2006 and 2008)
- Certificate earned in Poetry and Performance of the German Lied, Franz-Schubert-Institut, Baden-bei-Wien, Austria (2005)
- Professional Singer for the SongFest Program in Malibu, California (2005 and 2007)
- Apprentice Artist with opera festivals including Opera New Jersey (2003-06), Ash Lawn Opera Festival (2003), Janiec Opera Center at the Brevard Music Festival (2002), and more.
- Freelance Performer and Teacher (2000-Present)
Professional Memberships
- WI National Association of Teachers of Singing (NATS) President (2022-Present)
- National Member of NATS (2003-Present)
- Pi Kappa Lambda PKL) National Honor Music Society (Past-President 2019-2020 and member since 2014)
- Honorary Faculty Member of the Phi Mu Alpha Sinfonia Xi Omicron Chapter (Date of Initiation, 2022)
The voice area is a most special community of singers who are in full support of each other as friends and colleagues, and who get to see each other grow as artists and human beings on a daily basis.
– Matthew Markham