Equally at home on the concert and operatic stages, Marta Fontanals-Simmons has emerged as a 'strong artistic personality and an unflinchingly direct communicator on the international stage' (Presto Music).
This season Marta returns to The Royal Opera House, Covent Garden as Linda in the much anticipated opera Festen* by Mark-Anthony Turnage, to Britten Pears Arts for a recital with Lana Bode and Fauré Requiem, Alexandra Palace Mendelssohn Elijah, the Royal Albert Hall Handel Messiah, Mozart Requiem with RPO, Handel Messiah with BBCNOW and looks forward to recitals with the Erda Ensemble at Leeds Lieder and Presteigne Festival.
Marta’s wide ranging operatic repertoire includes Vlasta Weinberg Die Passagierin at Teatro Real, Siébel Faust Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, Eurydice Woman Harrison Birtwistle The Mask of Orpheus English National Opera, Amando Ligeti Le Grand Macabre Elphilharmonie Hamburg, Marta Anna David Matthews* The Grange Festival, Matriosha War and Peace and Erste Magd Elektra Grand Théâtre de Genève, Jacquet Ethel Smyth The Wreckers Glyndebourne Festival & Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester, Berlin and Cherubino Le Nozze di Figaro Garsington Opera & Théâtre de Champs Elysées.
Marta’s concert highlights include Beethoven 9th Symphony Aurora Orchestra, Mendelssohn Elijah & Stanford Requiem CBSO, Berlioz La Captive BBCSO, Elgar The Music Makers Philharmonia, Bach Christmas Oratorio Prague Symphony Orchestra, Gavin Higgins The Faerie Bride* BBCNOW, Ligeti Le Grand Macabre Radio Filharmonisch Orkest, Ravel L’enfant et les sortilèges Die Stuttgarter Philharmoniker and Vaughan Williams Serenade to Music BBC Last Night of the Proms.
Marta has performed with Graham Johnson at Wigmore Hall, Iain Burnside at the Bath International Music Festival, Wigmore Hall and Lammermuir Festival, Roger Vignoles at the Juan March Foundation, Madrid, Christopher Glynn at the Barber Institute Concert Series, Simon Lepper at Lille Opera and for BBCRadio3, Joanna McGregor & Lana Bode at the Aldeburgh Festival, Bengt Forsberg at Den Norske Opera, Sholto Kynoch at the Oxford International Song Festival, LifeVictoria Barcelona, Blackheath Halls London and the Zeist Lieder Festival, Netherlands.
Marta is a graduate of the Guildhall School of Music & Drama, where she was awarded the Principal's Prize and the prestigious Gold Medal in 2016 and was subsequently a Jerwood Artist at Glyndebourne Festival and part of the Jeune Ensemble at Grand Théâtre de Genève. She was awarded the Prix de Lied at Le Concours international de chant-piano Nadia et Lili Boulanger in Paris, was a finalist in the 2014 Kathleen Ferrier Award at Wigmore Hall, London and has been a featured artist on 8 discs including her debut album with collaborator Lana Bode ‘I and Silence; Women’s Voices in American Song’ which received 5 star reviews and is currently preparing the follow up disc 'Somnia'.
This season Marta returns to The Royal Opera House, Covent Garden as Linda in the much anticipated opera Festen* by Mark-Anthony Turnage, to Britten Pears Arts for a recital with Lana Bode and Fauré Requiem, Alexandra Palace Mendelssohn Elijah, the Royal Albert Hall Handel Messiah, Mozart Requiem with RPO, Handel Messiah with BBCNOW and looks forward to recitals with the Erda Ensemble at Leeds Lieder and Presteigne Festival.
Marta’s wide ranging operatic repertoire includes Vlasta Weinberg Die Passagierin at Teatro Real, Siébel Faust Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, Eurydice Woman Harrison Birtwistle The Mask of Orpheus English National Opera, Amando Ligeti Le Grand Macabre Elphilharmonie Hamburg, Marta Anna David Matthews* The Grange Festival, Matriosha War and Peace and Erste Magd Elektra Grand Théâtre de Genève, Jacquet Ethel Smyth The Wreckers Glyndebourne Festival & Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester, Berlin and Cherubino Le Nozze di Figaro Garsington Opera & Théâtre de Champs Elysées.
Marta’s concert highlights include Beethoven 9th Symphony Aurora Orchestra, Mendelssohn Elijah & Stanford Requiem CBSO, Berlioz La Captive BBCSO, Elgar The Music Makers Philharmonia, Bach Christmas Oratorio Prague Symphony Orchestra, Gavin Higgins The Faerie Bride* BBCNOW, Ligeti Le Grand Macabre Radio Filharmonisch Orkest, Ravel L’enfant et les sortilèges Die Stuttgarter Philharmoniker and Vaughan Williams Serenade to Music BBC Last Night of the Proms.
Marta has performed with Graham Johnson at Wigmore Hall, Iain Burnside at the Bath International Music Festival, Wigmore Hall and Lammermuir Festival, Roger Vignoles at the Juan March Foundation, Madrid, Christopher Glynn at the Barber Institute Concert Series, Simon Lepper at Lille Opera and for BBCRadio3, Joanna McGregor & Lana Bode at the Aldeburgh Festival, Bengt Forsberg at Den Norske Opera, Sholto Kynoch at the Oxford International Song Festival, LifeVictoria Barcelona, Blackheath Halls London and the Zeist Lieder Festival, Netherlands.
Marta is a graduate of the Guildhall School of Music & Drama, where she was awarded the Principal's Prize and the prestigious Gold Medal in 2016 and was subsequently a Jerwood Artist at Glyndebourne Festival and part of the Jeune Ensemble at Grand Théâtre de Genève. She was awarded the Prix de Lied at Le Concours international de chant-piano Nadia et Lili Boulanger in Paris, was a finalist in the 2014 Kathleen Ferrier Award at Wigmore Hall, London and has been a featured artist on 8 discs including her debut album with collaborator Lana Bode ‘I and Silence; Women’s Voices in American Song’ which received 5 star reviews and is currently preparing the follow up disc 'Somnia'.
Marta is originally from Somerset, England with dual British and Spanish nationality, Marta gained her Bachelor of Music degree at Birmingham University where she continued piano and voice training at Birmingham Conservatoire and continued to play violin in the university orchestras. She then achieved her MMus, MPerf and Artist Diploma at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama, London with professor Marilyn Rees. Marta is proud to be a Trustee for the Jackdaws Educational Trust, a mentor for SingersResound Charity and gives her time advocating for music and song at events, competitions and masterclasses for singers of all ages.
*world premiere
*world premiere
© Marta Fontanals-Simmons 2023, all rights reserved