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The Dutch tenor, Marten Smeding, was initially an amateur singer, who combined the profession of teacher with various performances of mainly songs by German and French composers. When he entered the Internationaal Vocalistenconcours in Den Bosch, he reached the semi-finals to everyone's surprise. Gradually he moved in the direction of the oratorio section, with a lot of Evangelist parts in J.S. Bach's Passions. He also received singing lessons and coaching from: Maria Pluister-Leentvaar, Gé Neutel, Bernhard Kruysen, Robert Holl and Henk Smit.
From 1991 Marten Smeding established himself as a professional freelance singer. Soon he sang many small roles at the Nederandse Opera, where he briefly sang along in the choir, and was soon asked to sing some small roles. He then audited in various places and was invited to sing parts in the Vara matinee, and also abroad in opera houses such as the Royal Theater de la Monnaie in Brussels and the opera in Frankfurt am Main. His careful shifting from Lieder, via oratorio to opera, is the result of steady voice development. At the start of his singing career, a reviewer wrote: "A clear, light tenor voice, almost against the timbre of a counter-tenor". 12 years later, a report was published about the opera Merlin in which he sang the role of King Arthur and even spoke of a "heroic tenor". Remarkably, Smeding, although now mainly opera singer, also regularly reverts to where he began: the Lieder and the oratorio. He is thus one of the few tenors who can take full advantage of the dramatic changes in this kind of parts and yet can also bring the lighter facets to mind.
As a Lieder singer, Marten Smeding collaborates with pianists Wim Stoppelenburg (in German and French repertoire, but also in compositions by Stoppelenburg himself), Han-Louis Meijer (with mostly Eastern European composers and Belcanto repertoire) and Arjan Breukhoven (with whom he also made some CD's).
As an opera singer Marten Smeding sang leading roles in operas by W.A. Mozart (Idomeneo), Donizetti (L'Elisir d'amore), Charles Gounod (Faust), L.v. Beethoven (Fidelio), Strauss (Ariadne auf Naxos), Verdi (Aida and La Traviata) and Wagner (Der fliegende Holländer).
During his career, Marten Smeding has collaborated with conductors such as Simon Rattle, Edo de Waart, Hartmut Haenchen, Antonio Papano, Valery Gergiev, Riccardo Chailly and Kazushi Ono. In addition, he sings dozens of concerts every year in our own country with works from J.S. Bach to Verdi.
In the 2008-2009 season he sang a lot of concerts with J.S. Bach (Passions), Benjamin Britten (Saint Nicolas Cantata), Felix Mendelssohn (Paulus and Elias), Dvorak (Requiem and Stabat Mater), L.v. Beethoven (Symphony No. 9 with the Het Gelders Orkest) and Verdi (Requiem).
Marten Smeding has sung for radio and TV many times. Some of his recordings have now been published on CD, such as the Lukas Passion (BWV 246; attributed to J.S. Bach) and Merlijn, an opera by Willem Pijper (May 2007). On DVD he can be seen in Turandot (conducted by Riccardo Chailly) and Chovantsjina (conducted by Kazushi Ono). |
