Anna Harvey & Mark Austin
Biography Anna Harvey & Mark Austin
Anna Harvey
Hailed as “simply wonderful” by the New York Times and “remarkable” by The Times of London, Anna Harvey has received rapturous acclaim for her performances around the world. The winner of the Paris Opera Competition, the London Bach Singers Prize and the Oratorio and Audience Prizes at the International Vocal Competition s’ Hertogenbosch in the Netherlands, Anna was born in Sheffield, UK, and studied at the University of Cambridge and the Royal Academy of Music.
Since 2018, Anna has been a resident soloist at the Deutsche Oper am Rhein, where she has performed many of the most important mezzo soprano roles, including Hänsel, L’Enfant, Annio, Suzuki, Polina, Siegrune and Floßhilde.
Guest engagements have taken her across the globe, including to the Palais Garnier in Paris, Dutch National Opera in Amsterdam, Lincoln Center in New York, Verbier Festival in Switzerland, Palau de la Música Catalana in Barcelona, Centro Cultural de Belém in Lisbon, Actus Humanus Festival in Poland, Al Bustan Festival in Beirut, Xi’an Symphony Hall in China, the Weimar, Chemnitz and Dortmund theatres in Germany, Welsh National Opera in Cardiff (where she was Associate Artist in 2017), the Aldeburgh Festival, and the Wigmore, Barbican, Royal Festival and Royal Albert Halls in London. A particular career highlight was singing as a soloist at the Last Night of the BBC Proms in 2016.
With particular interests in early music, German opera and trouser roles, Anna has performed this repertoire with esteemed conductors including Masaaki Suzuki, Sir Roger Norrington, Harry Bicket, Paul McCreesh, Jane Glover, Hans-Christoph Rademann, Jonathan Cohen, Maxim Emelyanychev, Daniel Hope, Sakari Oramo, Esa-Pekka Salonen, Marie Jacquot, Finnegan Downie-Dear, Felix Bender, Axel Kober, Antonino Fogliani and Carlo Rizzi.
Anna has worked on new productions with respected opera directors including Sir Graham Vick, Tatjana Gürbaca, Paul Curran, Lindy Hume, Olivia Fuchs, Ted Huffman, Elisabeth Stöppler, Philipp Westerbarkei, Kobie van Rensburg and Tobias Kratzer.
Collaborations on the concert platform include those with ensembles such as the London Philharmonic Orchestra, Zurich Chamber Orchestra, Philharmonia, Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, The Hallé, Three Choirs Festival, The English Concert, Gabrieli Consort, Arcangelo, Orchestre d'Auvergne, Gulbenkian, Internationale Bachakademie Stuttgart, Dortmunder Philharmoniker and Duisburger Philharmoniker, in repertoire including Purcell, Handel, Bach, Vivaldi, Mozart, Beethoven, Schumann, Mendelssohn, Mahler and Lili Boulanger.
Anna’s current discography includes Floßhilde Das Rheingold / Götterdämmerung with the Duisburger Philharmoniker under Axel Kober, Haydn Nelson Mass / Paukenmesse with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra under Hilary Davan Wetton, Charpentier Litanies de la Vierge with Arcangelo under Jonathan Cohen for Hyperion Records, and a recital disc of Warlock and Howe songs with pianist Mark Austin which is being released with Rubicon Classics in June 2022.
Further accolades include being awarded an ARAM (Associate of the Royal Academy of Music), a Dame Kiri Te Kanawa Scholarship, the Alumni Development Graduation Award for Most Outstanding Studentship, and the Russian and English Song Prizes, from the Royal Academy of Music, as well as a Leonard Ingrams Award from Garsington Opera.
Mark Austin
Finalist in the Chicago Symphony Solti Conducting Competition, Mark Austin is energised by an extraordinary versatility as conductor, pianist and scholar. Displaying a rare breadth of activity, he performs at the highest level across operatic, orchestral and choral repertoire. He is passionate about music education and believes all children should be supported to learn an instrument and sing. Recent highlights include his debut at Royal Opera House Linbury Theatre and a recording of music by renowned Japanese composer Joe Hisaishi for Deutsche Grammophon. In 2019 Mark was elected an Associate of the Royal Academy of Music. An album of English song with mezzo-soprano Anna Harvey was released in June 2022.
Mark has conducted orchestras including Aurora, Britten Sinfonia, Civic Orchestra of Chicago, Garsington Opera, Orchestre de chambre de Paris and the Hangzhou Philharmonic, China. He has worked in masterclass with Riccardo Muti. He has acted as assistant conductor for figures including Vasily Petrenko, Marin Alsop and the late Sir Colin Davis, and at opera companies including The Royal Opera, Garsington, The Grange Festival and Folkoperan, Sweden. Mark was assistant conductor for the world première production of Mark-Anthony Turnage’s ‘Coraline’ for The Royal Opera.
He is Artistic Director of Faust Chamber Orchestra, with whom he has appeared at venues including Kings Place, LSO St Luke’s, West Road Concert Hall, Hatfield House and the London Design Museum. He is Principal Conductor of Stamford Chamber Orchestra, and gives regular performances in the exquisite 18th century Ballroom at the Stamford Assembly Rooms.
As pianist Mark has performed at venues including Wigmore Hall, Kings Place, St John’s Smith Square, Holywell Music Room, Opera Bastille (Paris) and the Shanghai Oriental Arts Centre. Mark was awarded a Bayreuth Festival Young Artist Bursary in 2018 and recorded the world première of ‘NHS Symphony’ for BBC Radio 3, which won a Prix Europa. He was awarded an International Opera Awards Bursary in 2017. He is assistant to David Hill with The Bach Choir and regularly conducts the choir in concert and the recording studio. In 2021 he was producer for an album 'Bach Inspired' featuring six new works written in response to chorales from Bach's 'St Matthew Passion', which received a 4-star review from BBC Music Magazine. Equally at home with community music projects, Mark recently conducted the new opera 'Bloom Britannia' by Orlando Gough and Stephen Plaice in a production by Polly Graham.
Born in London, Mark had lessons in violin and piano from an early age. He played in the National Youth Orchestra and studied at Cambridge University and Royal Academy of Music, where he received numerous prizes and was appointed a Junior Fellow. Mark contributed a chapter on Wagner, Beethoven and Faust to the recent publication ‘Music in Goethe’s Faust’, and addressed the English Goethe Society on Strauss and Goethe. Forthcoming publications include a book chapter on Goethe and the Musical World (Cambridge University Press) and articles on Strauss's Metamorphosen and Mozart's Mitridate.
