ROSEMARIE VAN DER HOOFT (mezzo-soprano)
holds a Masters of Early Music Performance from McGill University
and has studied with early music specialist Julianne Baird
and 20th century specialist Jane Manning. She
is widely respected for her interpretations of Bach and
Handel, performing this repertoire in England, the United
States, and Canada. Rosemarie has performed with early music
organizations across Canada including Tafelmusik, Pacific
Baroque Orchestra, and the Alberta Baroque Ensemble, and
in the United States with the American Bach Soloists, Apollo's
Fire, the Boston Handel & Haydn Society, the St. Paul
Chamber Orchestra, and Seattle Baroque. She is featured
with the Aradia Baroque Ensemble on the Naxos label recording
of Purcell's music for The Tempest, as well as a
music video excerpt from this CD for broadcast on BRAVO!.
Rosemarie's interpretation of
repertoire from the 20th century has received
widespread critical acclaim. She has been a frequent performer
at the Winnipeg Symphony's New Music Festival and last season
made her debut with CBC Toronto's Encounters Series and
Soundstreams in the Canadian premieres of two works by Peter
Sculthorpe. Performances of new music include compositions
by international composers such as Gavin Bryars, Bright
Sheng, and Sophia Gubaidulina, as well as regular commissions
from Canadian composers. Her operatic work reflects her
baroque and 20th century specialties including
Purcell's Dido and Aeneas with the American Bach
Soloists, Handel's Ariodante with the Boston Handel
& Haydn Society, and Tamerlano at the Aldeburgh
Festival in England, and the Manitoba Opera premiere of
Randolph Peters' opera Nosferatu.
Heard frequently in concert
on CBC national and regional programs, Rosemarie has also
been featured on CBC National broadcasts of Two New Hours
and Arts Encounters. This season's performance highlights
include Handel's Messiah with Apollo's Fire and with
the Montreal Symphony Orchestra, a concert appearance at
the Boston Early Music Festival, and a return engagement
with the American Bach Soloists in Bach's Mass in B minor.
In the coming season, she will appear with the Manitoba
Chamber Orchestra, and the Alberta Baroque Ensemble, among
others.
"The role of Dido was well and expressively
sung by mezzo-soprano Rosemarie van der Hooft. Dido's
famous closing lament was extremely moving and poignant:
She died gorgeously." ~ with the American Bach Soloists,
in Purcell's Dido and Aeneas
"Van der Hooft nailed the ‘Et
exsultavit.' She seemed completely unfazed by the
fact that Bach never thought about letting his singers breathe."
~ with the American Bach Soloists, in Bach's Magnificat
"… deeply felt and brilliantly
sung by Rosemarie van der Hooft, who had to master Chinese
inflection for her role." ~ with the Winnipeg New
Music Festival, in Bright Sheng's Two Songs from the
Sung Dynasty
