NOVEMBER – DECEMBER 2013 - Mondavi Center

LEAH CROCETTO
role with the company in their tour of Japan
later in the season, as well as with Frankfurt
Opera in her company debut. Crocetto also
made her debut with the Israeli Opera as
the title role of Luisa Miller. She joined the
Calgary Philharmonic in performances of the
Verdi Requiem, and she returned to Italy to
sing Leonora in Il trovatore in her debut at the
Arena di Verona.
PERSONAL DIRECTION:
Willam G. Guerri, Vice-president
Columbia Artists Management LLC
(212) 841-9680 guerri@cami.com
MARK MARKHAM
Pianist Mark Markham made his debut
in 1980 as soloist with the New Orleans
Symphony Orchestra and in the same
year was invited by the renowned Boris
Goldovsky to coach opera at the Oglebay
Institute, hence the beginning of a
multi-faceted career. His teachers at the
time, Robert and Trudie Sherwood, were
supportive of all his musical endeavors
from solo repertoire, vocal accompanying,
and chamber music to Broadway and jazz.
During the next 10 years as a student at the
Peabody Conservatory, where he received
bachelor’s, master’s and doctoral degrees
in piano performance, this same support
for the diversity of his musical gifts came
from Ann Schein, a pupil of the great Artur
Rubinstein. While under her tutelage, he
won several competitions including the First
Prize and the Contemporary Music Prize
at the 1988 Frinna Awerbuch International
Piano Competition in New York City. He has
given solo recitals at the National Gallery of
Art in Washington, D.C.; the New York Public
Library; the Baltimore Museum of Art and
the Getty Museum in Los Angeles. In 1987,
Markham was appointed pianist of the
Contemporary Music Forum of Washington,
D.C. During five seasons he gave numerous
premiere performances at the Corcoran
Gallery with this ensemble. This work led
to other premieres throughout the U.S. by
composers Shulamit Ran, Larence Smith
and Richard Danielpour. Markham has also
performed with the Brentano, Mozarteum,
Glinka and Castagnieri quartets and the
Baltimore Woodwind Quintet, as well as
with Edgar Meyer, Ron Carter, Grady Tate
and Ira Coleman. While a student at the
conservatory, Markham toured with soprano
Phyllis Bryn-Julson. This collaboration
resulted in critically acclaimed recordings
of works by Messiaen, Carter, Dallapiccola,
Schuller and Wuorinen. In addition, he
has toured the US, Europe and Asia with
countertenor Derek Lee Ragin.
Since 1995, Markham has been the
recital partner of Jessye Norman, giving
nearly 300 performances in over 25
countries, including recitals in Carnegie
Hall, the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam, La
Palau de la Musica in Barcelona, London’s
Royal Festival Hall, the Musikverein in
Vienna, the Salzburg Festival, Bunka
Kaikan in Tokyo, Mann Auditorium in Tel
Aviv, the Ancient Theatre of Epidaurus in
Greece and at the 2002 Nobel Peace Prize
presentation to President Jimmy Carter
in Oslo. Recently he has performed with
Norman in London, Paris, Lyon, Moscow,
St. Petersburg, Ghent, Zurich, Oman,
Beirut, Baden-Baden, Washington, D.C. and
San Francisco.
Much appreciated by the public for his
improvisational skills, Markham performed
at the Expo 2000 in Hannover, Germany,
where he collaborated with Sir Peter
Ustinov for a live television broadcast
throughout the country. His gift for jazz has
been recognized in the Sacred Ellington, a
program created by Norman in which he
serves as pianist and musical director and
which has toured Europe and the Middle
East. Most recently, his recording with Jessye
Norman of Roots: My Life, My Song was
nominated for a Grammy.
In 1990, Markham was invited to join
the faculty of the Peabody Conservatory,
where he served for ten years as vocal
coach and professor of vocal repertoire and
accompanying. A former faculty member
of Morgan State University, the Britten-
Pears School in England and the Norfolk
Chamber Festival of Yale University, he has
presented master classes for pianists and
singers throughout the U.S., Europe and
Asia and has been a guest lecturer for the
Metropolitan Opera Guild and the Johns
Hopkins University. Markham currently
resides in New York City.
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