“Mark Le Brocq’s looming physical presence and clarion voice, balanced theatening insinuation and lyricism”

The Independent

Biography

 

 

Mark Le Brocq held a choral scholarship at St. Catharine’s College, Cambridge where he read English. He studied at the Royal Academy of Music with Kenneth Bowen and later continued at the National Opera Studio where he was sponsored by The Friends of English National Opera.

Upon completing his studies, Mark became a Company Principal with English National Opera. Roles at ENO included Tamino The Magic Flute; Paris King Priam; Count Almaviva The Barber of Seville; Narraboth Salome; Cassio Otello; Don Ottavio Don Giovanni; Don Basilio Figaro and Doctor Maxwell The Silver Tassie.

Mark’s guest appearances include Mephistopheles Dr Faustus, The Jailer Il Prigioniero  Semperoper Dresden; The Major Figaro gets a divorce Magdeburg; Painter/Client  Lulu Bolzano, Scrooge Christmas Carol Trento; Luka House of the dead Brno Festival; Loge Das Rheingold for Longborough Opera and Tianjin Symphony Orchestra; Title role Biedermann und die Brandstifter, The Governor Simplicius Simplicissimus Independent Opera; Sir Philip Wingrave Owen Wingrave Opera de Nancy; For Welsh National Opera: Golitsyn Khovanshchina,  Pierre War and Peace, Bassanio Merchant of Venice, Aron Moses und Aron, Scrooge A Christmas Carol, Sergeant Snell In Parenthesis, the Painter/Client  Lulu, Le Medecin La chute de la maison Usher, Smee Peter Pan, Dhahab/Overseer Al Wasl WNO/Dubai. For Scottish Opera: Harry King Anthropocene world premiere, Mao Nixon in China; For Opera North: Siegmund, Froh Der Ring des Nibelungen, Bob Boles Peter Grimes, Steuermann Der Fliegende Hollander, Shapkin House of the Dead, Witch Hänsel und Gretel, Eliates Croesus, the World Premieres of The Pied Piper, Cautionary Tales and  Beached, Weinberg’s The Portrait and a staged St Nicolas. Vitek The Makropulos Case  Edinburgh Festival and Opera North. Siegfried Götterdämmerung Grimeborn Festival; Title role Idomeneo for Opera Northern Ireland; Mazal The Excursions of Mr Broucek, Dr Caius Falstaff Grange Park Opera; Belmonte Die Entführung Aus Dem Serail for Garsington Opera; The Fairy Queen at the Aix Festival and Liceu, Barcelona; Handel’s La Resurrezione and title role Il Ritorno d’Ulisse in Patria for Chicago Opera Theater; Oebalus Apollo et Hyancinthus for Opera Theatre Company and the Classical Opera Company and Agenore Il Re Pastore and title roles Mitridate, Lucio Silla for the Classical Opera Company.  Kurt Weill’s Seven Deadly Sins for the Royal Ballet, Covent Garden and Monostatos Die Zauberflöte for Opera Holland Park.  Mark has worked with Tim Albery, David Alden, Tom Cairns, David Freeman, John Fulljames, Richard Jones, Nikolaus Lehnhoff, Jonathan Miller, David Pountney, Graham Vick, Keith Warner and Francesca Zambello.

On the concert platform Mark has appeared as a soloist worldwide.  Performances include Sylvester The Silver Tassie, Young sailor Tristan und Isolde, Howard Boucher Dead Man Walking and Goldschmidt’s Mediterranean Songs with the BBC Symphony Orchestra; The Fairy Queen, Dixit Dominus at the BBC Proms; The Riot Act Fennessy/RSNO; The Eternal Gospel Janacek and A survivor from Warsaw Schoenberg for Porto Casa da Musica; Das Lied von der Erde Orquestra de Extremadura; The Dream of Gerontius RTE Dublin. B Minor Mass with the Israel Camerata;  St Matthew Passion Academy of Ancient Music; Beethoven Missa Solemnis, Parry Invocation to music, Three Choirs’ Festival. Berlioz’s Grande Messe de Morts in St Paul’s Cathedral; Mozart’s C Minor Mass with the Scottish Chamber Orchestra; Carmina Burana with the Ulster Orchestra, the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra and at the Royal Albert Hall; Messiah in Lucerne with Collegium Instrumentale Brugense; Christmas Oratorio at Cadogan Hall; St Matthew Passion at Symphony Hall with the English Chamber Orchestra and Mozart Requiem with the Madrid Radio Symphony.  Further concert engagements include Die Zauberflöte at the Lucerne Festival; La Resurrezione, Solomon, The Creation, St Matthew Passion and The Fairy Queen with the Gabrieli Consort; Mozart’s Requiem with the English Concert in Salzburg and for the BBC Proms; Beethoven’s Mass in C and Choral Fantasia at the Queen Elizabeth Hall; Schubert’s Mass in E Flat with the BBC Symphony Orchestra; Britten’s Serenade with Ballet Rambert; The Diary of One who Disappeared at the Nuremberg International Festival. Conductors include Jiri Belohlavek, Paul Daniel, Richard Farnes, Jane Glover, Daniel Harding, Nicholas Kraemer, Sir Charles Mackerras, David Parry, Trevor Pinnock and Donald Runnicles. 

Recordings include  St Nicolas BBC Concert Orchestra/David Temple; Messiah Northern Sinfonia/Jane Glover; Valete in Pace Britten Sinfonia/Andrew Parrott; Tristan und Isolde (Young Sailor) Donald Runnicles/BBC Symphony; Pang Turandot and Remendado Carmen for Chandos; Samson, Messiah, Saul and Judas Maccabeus in live recordings from the Maulbronn Festival; Purcell’s Hail Bright Cecilia with the Gabrieli Consort/Paul McCreesh for DG; Handel’s Utrecht Te Deum, Boyce’s I Was Glad with the Choir of St Paul’s Cathedral/John Scott for Hyperion and Offenbach’s Vert-Vert for Opera Rara.

Future engagements include Aschenbach Death in Venice WNO; Loge, Siegmund Ring Cycle Longborough Festival.