| Biography | The Dutch contralto/mezzo-soprano, Martine Straesser, began her studies at the Sweelinck Conservatorium in Amsterdam, where she studied with Charles van Tassel. She then spent two years at the Royal Scottish Academy in Glasgow, where she obtained her Master of Music degree in opera. After this she was a seasonal member of the Opera Studio Netherlands (2000). Today she is coached by Henny Diemer.
During her studies Martine Straesser made ??her operatic debut in Il Trionfo di Camilla by Bononcini, a production of the early music festival conducted by Jos van Veldhoven. In England and Scotland, she sang among others, Mercedes in Carmen, the Witch in Hänsel und Gretel (cover Scottish Opera) and Marcellina in Le nozze di Figaro (RSAMD). In the Opera Studio Netherlands, she sang roles in Benjamin Britten's The rape of Lucretia (conducted by Richard Bradshaw), Oresteia by Xenakis and Phillip Glass' Akhenaten (Muziektheater Holands diep). She also sang the role of Venus in a reconstruction of Monteverdi's Arianna in a co-production of the opera studio Transparent.
With the Nederlandse Opera Martine Straesser was heard in Writing to Vermeer by Louis Andriessen (Amsterdam and New York) and Reves d'un Marco Polo by Claude Vivier (directed by Pierre Audi). Recently she sang the role of Mrs.. Quickly in Verdi's Falstaff with Henk Smit in the title role in a production that a number of theaters in Italy donned including the famous Teatro Reggia di Parma. In 2006 she appeared as Widow Begbick in Mahagonny by Kurt Weill (Opera aan het IJ) and as the Mother in the opera Mavra by Igor Stravinsky (Opera Zuid). At the same place, she also sang the role of La Frugola in Pucinni `s Tabarro and the role of Dorothee in Massenet's Cendrillon.
Martine Straesser's oratorio repertoire ranges from J.S. Bach to B. Britten and she is also a much sought-after soloist in oratorio societies in the Netherlands. On the concert stage she has sung, among others, with the Brabants Orkest (Three Shakespeare Songs by Ton de Leeuw and Die Fledermaus) and the Nederlandse Bachvereniging (Isreal in Egypt conducted by Paul McCreesh) and with orchestras such as Holland Symfonia and Het Gelders Orkest. Recently she was a guest at the Zeeuws Orkest for several performances of Verdi's Requiem at the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam. |