marc heller - tenor
Marc Heller has appeared at major opera houses across four continents, including the Metropolitan Opera, Gran Teatre del Liceu - Barcelona, Moscow’s Bolshoi Theater, the Royal Swedish Opera - Stockholm, the Dutch National Opera, New York City Opera, the Komische Oper Berlin, and many others in such roles as Otello, Calaf (Turandot), Radames (Aida), Don Josè, Andrea Chénier, Canio (I Pagliacci), and others.
Of his performances at New York City Opera in Respighi’s rarity “La Campana Sommersa”, the New York Times and Wall Street Journal wrote respectively of Heller’s “impressive” vocalism, and “stentorian" tenor in the opera’s lead role of Enrico, the Bellmaker.
Not new to the New York City stages, Heller earlier in his career had originated the role of the antagonist, Gao Jian-li, of Tan Dun’s n e w opera The First Emperor, going on to make his principal Metropolitan Opera debut in the role, opposite Placido Domingo.
Mr. Heller has performed the role of Radames in Verdi's classic Aida worldwide with great frequency, highlighted productions of which include R.A.I. simulcast performances at the Pyramids of Giza, as well as in a new production at London's Royal Albert Hall with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, having since become a regular featured guest principal performer there.
Highlights of intervening seasons include performances as the title role of Ernani at the Lithuanian National Opera and Ballet - Vilnius, as Riccardo in a new production of Un Ballo in Maschera at the Palácio das Artes Belo Horizonte , at Wiesbaden as Don Alvaro in a new production of La Forza del Destino, as the title role in the German premiere of Ernst Reyer's "Ring" entitled Sigurd, - also in critically acclaimed performances as Jean de Leyde in the Badisches Staatstheater’s new production by Tobias Kratzer of Meyerbeer’s Le Prophète; as the title role of Otello at the Gran Teatre del Liceu - Barcelona, one simulcast of Heller's performances of which is re-broadcast regularly worldwide (Iago: Marco Vratogna; Desdemona: Ermonela Jaho; D: Mo. Philippe Auguin), his repeating of Otello therefater to great critical acclaim in Budapest, - as Calaf in Turandot at Oviedo, Spain, Northern Ireland Opera (Belfast, P: Bieito), Bolshoi Theater - Minsk, most notably with the Pacific Symphony Orchestra, one simulcast performance of which is regularly re-broadcast nationally (Mo. Carl St. Clair; P: Eric Einhorn), and also in performances in Germany.
Recent seasons also saw Heller consecutively perform both roles of Turiddu in Cavalleria Rusticana, and Canio in I Pagliacci at the Opéra-Théâtre de Metz, France, saw two highly successful role debuts, as King Carlo VII in Giovanna D’Arco (Boston), and the eponymous role of Wagner’s Rienzi (Innsbruck).
Heller has since again reprised the role of Radames in several performances of a new production of Aida by Oliver Mears, again at Utah Opera, and under the baton of Mo. Ramon Tebar; Heller participated as the antagonist, the Police Inspector, in the world premiere of Iain Bell’s opera “Stonewall”, premiering at New York City Opera, in 2019, and, in that same season, performed Verdi's Otello again, at the Festspielhaus Baden-Baden, under Maestro Zubin Mehta's baton.
- As a producer in Dubai, U.A.E., Heller mounted and performed in a cross-cultural concert of his own thematic design, entitled "From Here to There", and produced and directed opera in concert to wide acclaim in subsequent consecutive seasons, on various television and radio programs, and at the Dubai Theater and Center for the Arts.
- As a recording artist, Mr. Heller appeared as Chairman Mao in Adams’ Nixon in China (2009, Naxos), production of which album was nominated for a Grammy award; as Baroncelli in Wagner`s Rienzi (Theatre du Capitole de Toulouse, 2012, Opus Arte). Mr. Heller`s recordings also include Modinhas e Cançoes (songs of Heitor Villa-Lobos), Take Me To The World (songs of Stephen Sondheim) as well as Great Poets in Song (compositions by Dr Alfred Heller), and Rome by Night (compositions by the late Steve Allen, with percussion performed by the composer)
- Mr. Heller resides in New York City, and Kaunas, Lithuania.