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The American soprano, Marguerite Krull, attended the Peabody Institute at Johns Hopkins University where she earned a Bachelor of Music degree in Piano Performance. She went on to earn her Master of Music degree in Vocal Performance from Stony Brook University (SBU). At SBU she studied singing with Elaine Bonazzi, and early on in her career she won several prestigious awards, including the Marian Anderson Award (1997), a Sullivan Foundation Award (2000), and a Richard R. Gold Career Grant.
Marguerite Krull has had an active international performance career since the 1990's. She made her debut at the New York City Opera (NYCO) in 1994 as Rosina in The Barber of Seville, and subsequently performed the title role in Maurice Ravel's L'enfant et les sortilèges with that company in 1999. In 1995 she performed the role of Phoebe in the Glimmerglass Opera's production of The Yeomen of the Guard, and returned to Glimmerglass in 1996 as Ramiro in W.A. Mozart's La finta giardiniera. In 2000 she performed the role of Giulietta in the Berkshire Opera's production of I Capuleti e i Montecchi. In 2001 she performed the role of Desdemona in Otello at the Caramoor International Music Festival. In 2001 she portrayed Cherubino in the NYCO's production of W.A. Mozart's The Marriage of Figaro; a role she later portrayed for her debut at the Lyric Opera of Chicago in 2003. In 2007 she returned to the NYCO as Emilia in George Frideric Handel's Flavio.
Possessed of keen musical intelligence and a vocal range from high lyric mezzo-soprano to soprano, she is passionate about bringing to life new works and works that have been forgotten or neglected. Excursions in this vein include Calliope in George Frideric Handel's Alceste with the American Classical Orchestra (March 2014); Énone in Charpentier’s La descente d’Orphee aux enfers with Gotham Opera; Alix in Gretry’s 18th-century opera comique Le Magnifique with Ryan Brown and Opera Lafayette (recorded for Naxos); and the extended soprano solos in the première of Elena Ruehr’s cantata Averno with Julian Wachner and The Washington Chorus (D.C.) and Trinity Wall Street Choir (NY), recorded on the Avie Label. She also created the role of Peggy in Paul Crabtree’s Ghost Train, which had its première at the Carolina Chamber Music Festival.
Marguerite Krull has sung with numerous companies across the globe. She has embraced an unusually varied list of roles including Emilia in G.F. Handel's Flavio and the title role in L’enfant et les sortilèges with New York City Opera; Belle in Philip Glass’s La belle et la bête with the Oakland Opera; the title role of Martín y Soler’s La capricciosa corretta, performed in Lausanne, Bordeaux, and Madrid and also recorded for the Naïve/Naxos label; the title role in Melani’s L’empio punito, the earliest operatic treatment of the Don Juan legend, with Opera Leipzig; and eight different Rossini heroines, including four with the Caramoor International Music Festival: Rosina in Il barbiere di Siviglia, Ninetta in La gazza ladra, the title role of La donna del lago, and Desdemona in Otello.
Other performances of note include a last-minute engagement with La Monnaie in Brussels, Belgium in the title role in Rossini’s Elisabetta, regina d’Inghilterra, which she also sang in Amsterdam and in her debut at Argentina’s Teatro Colón; a return to the Teatro Colón in Bogotá, Colombia as Donna Elvira in W.A. Mozart's Don Giovanni, a role she also sang at New Orleans Opera, and Opera Grand Rapids; and a performance with Philadelphia’sTempesta di Mare of G.F. Handel's Tra le Fiamme, which The Philadelphia Inquirer called “especially superb.” Her debut with the Chicago Lyric Opera, as Cherubino in W.A. Mozart's La nozze di Figaro, was called “the big news” of the evening by John von Rhein of the Chicago Tribune.
Marguerite Krull's dramatic flair and musical sensibility have earned plaudits from the critics, who praise her “strong, affecting stage presence” (Janos Gereben, Oakland Tribune) and “rich, rosy sound and lyrical sensitivity” (Anthony Tommasini, New York Times). She has been lauded for the ease with which she moves from the comedic to the deeply dramatic. Her Despina in W.A. Mozart's Così fan Tutte for Washington National Opera was marked by a “masterful blend of cynicism and frivolity,” according to the Washington Post; her title role of Child in the National Symphony Orchestra’s semi-staged production of L’enfant et les sortilèges - a role she has also sung to great acclaim at the New York City Opera - conveyed “all the sulky body language of a spoiled kid” (The Baltimore Sun); and her Sesto in G.F. Handel's Giulio Cesare at the Washington National Opera was“fully limned into a convincingly adolescent spark plug, bubbling with Oedipal desires and steeled to the purpose of revenge” (Philip Kennicott, The Washington Post). Her intensive musical training, as both a pianist and a singer, has been praised by the critics who have commented on “her embellishments skillfully and beautifully worked into the line” (Paul Griffiths, andante.com) and “superbly detailed phrasing” (Tim Smith, The Baltimore Sun).
On the concert stage Marguerite Krull has sung a varied repertoire as well, including John Harbison’s Mirabai Songs with the New York Philharmonic Orchestra; Samuel Barber's Knoxville, Summer of 1915 with the Richmond Symphony (IN); W.A. Mozart's Mass in C minor with the Buffalo Philharmonic, Voices of Ascension (NY), Sacred Music in a Sacred Space (NY) (October 2014), and Pro Arte (NJ) (June 2014); J.S. Bach's Oster-Oratorium BWV 249 with the Saint Thomas Choir of Men & Boys (May 2014); W.A. Mozart's Requiem with the Orlando Philharmonic; J.S. Bach's Matthäus-Passion BWV 244 at the Brooklyn Academy of Music in Jonathan Miller's acclaimed staged production, J.S. Bach's Magnificat in D major BWV 243 and Mass in B minor BWV 232 with the Bach Choir of Bethlehem; W.A. Mozart's Mass in C Minor with the Buffalo Philharmonic, W.A. Mozart's Exultate, jubilate and Gustav Mahler's Symphony No. 4 with the Peoria Symphony, Giovanni Battista Pergolesi's La morte di San Giuseppe with the New York Collegium, and Carissimi’s Jepthe with the American Bach Soloists (Director: Jeffrey Thomas).
Marguerite Krull lives in New York City with her husband, Mark, and their two children, Eamon and Maeve. |
