Martin Snell was born and educated in Dunedin, New Zealand. After law studies and professional qualification he entered the Royal Northern College of Music, Manchester, England to commence postgraduate vocal studies with Patrick McGuigan in September 1991, graduating with distinction in 1994. He has received many awards and scholarships, including winning the 1993 Mobil Song Quest and receiving a major scholarship from the Peter Moores Foundation, London.

Martin has been a resident artist with Theater St Gallen, Theater Basel, and Luzerner Theater, and performed widely throughout Europe as well as Asia and his native New Zealand. Since August 2005 he has worked as a freelance performer based in Lucerne, Switzerland.

Martin Snell’s vocal repertoire comprises diverse roles ranging from Monteverdi and Handel to Mozart and Rossini, Puccini and Strauss to Donizetti and Stravinsky, Verdi and Wagner, Janacek and Smetana, Tchaikowsky and Offenbach.

Among his successes include stage performances as Prince Gremin (Eugene Onegin) for both the Festival d'Aix-en-Provence 2002 conducted by Daniel Harding and in St Gallen conducted by Jiri Kout, Baron Ochs auf Lerchenau (Der Rosenkavalier), Hunding (Die Walküre), Timur (Turandot), Figaro (Le nozze di Figaro), Sarastro (Die Zauberflöte), Rychtàr (Jenufa) and Dikoj (Katja Kabanová), the Bass-Solo in a critically acclaimed staging by Andreas Homoki of Verdi’s Messa da Requiem at Theater Basel conducted by Baldo Podic, Surin (Pique Dame) in a revival of the Royal Opera House Covent Garden production staged by Francesca Zambello for the Grand Théatre de Genève, Geneva, conducted by Marko Letonja, and a further production by Mariusz Trelinski for the Staatsoper unter den Linden, Berlin, conducted by Daniel Barenboim. Also at the Staatsoper Berlin Martin Snell sang the role of Angelotti (Tosca) conducted by Plácido Domingo. Additionally Martin Snell has performed Conte di Monterone (Rigoletto) at the Herbert von Karajan Festspiele Baden-Baden 2004 conducted by Thomas Hengelbrock and Der Tod (Kaiser von Atlantis by Viktor Ullmann) directed by Dominique Mentha as part of the Lucerne Festival 2004, Sparafucile (Rigoletto) directed by Vera Nemirowa and Ned in Scott Joplin’s Treemonisha in Lucerne directed by Verena Weiss.

Other stage successes have featured Ein Steuermann (Tristan und Isolde) and 4. Edler (Lohengrin) for the Bayreuther Festspiele 2005, Truffaldino (Ariadne auf Naxos) directed by Laurence Dale for Opéra de Monte-Carlo and conducted by Lawrence Foster, Klingsor (Parsifal) for the New Zealand International Festival 2006 together with the New Zealand Symphony Orchestra, Publio (La Clemenza di Tito) in Geneva and Caen, Ein Steuermann (Tristan und Isolde) for the Bayreuther Festspiele 2006, Kanna in the World première performance of Franz Schubert’s Sakontala at the Hermann Prey Festival Bad Urach, Hans Foltz (Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg) in Geneva, Truffaldino (Ariadne auf Naxos) in a revival of Christof Loy’s Royal Opera House Covent Garden production for the Grand Théatre de Genève conducted by Jeffery Tate, and most recently Hermann Ortel (Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg) in Bayreuth, directed by Katharina Wagner and conducted by Sebastian Weigle, Kaspar in a revival of Marco Arturo Marelli's Volksoper Wien production of Der Freischütz for Oper Graz conducted by Dirk Kaftan, return appearances in Meistersinger and Tristan at the Bayreuth Festival, and Daland in Wagner’s Der fliegender Holländer for the Statni Opera Prague.

As a concert singer Martin Snell has appeared widely throughout Europe as well as Asia, and has also performed regularly in New Zealand, with conductors such as Peter Eötvös, Herbert Blomstedt, Philippe Herreweghe, David Parry, René Jacobs, Sebastian Weigle, Howard Griffiths, Jiri Kout, Jeffery Tate, and Lan Shui, among many others.

Recent concert performances include Handel's Messiah in Zurich, Berne and Graz, Verdi Requiem in Essen, Basel, Zurich, Munich, and Freiburg im Breisgau, Saint-Saëns’'Oratorio de Noël and Mozart’s c-Moll Messe in Zurich, Purcell’s King Arthur (Cold Genius/Aeolus) in Lörrach, Cologne, Brussels, and Ludwigsburg with Thomas Hengelbrock and the Balthasar-Neumann-Ensemble and Choir, Bruckner's Messe Nr.3 in f-Moll in Tokyo and Bilbao, Haydn's Harmoniemesse in Zürich, CPE Bach's Magnificat, also in Zürich, Mendelssohn's Elijah in Graz, Beethoven's Symphonie Nr.9 in Freiburg im Breisgau, Schumann's Scenes from Goethe's Faust in Valencia, Hunding (Die Walküre) in Singapore, Franz Schmidt's Das Buch mit sieben Siegeln in Basel and Zürich, and Carl Nielsen's Symphony Nr.3 in Zürich, Jochanaan in Strauss’ Salome in Auckland (New Zealand), Priest/Angel of the Agony in Elgar's The Dream of Gerontius in Wellington (New Zealand), and Pater Profundus in Mahler's Symphony no. 8 in Riga (Latvia), among other engagements.

Future stage engagements include Martin Snell’s role débuts as Landgraf Hermann Wagner's Tannhäuser for the Greek National Opera and the Megaron Concert Hall in Athens, the title role in Puccini's Gianni Schicchi for Southern Opera (New Zealand), revival performances of Hermann Ortel (Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg) and Ein Steuermann (Tristan und Isolde) for the Bayreuther Festspiele 2009 together with further concert appearances in New Zealand, Switzerland, Germany, Denmark and Singapore.

Source: Kiwibasso

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