Samuel Mariño

Male Soprano

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“Samuel Mariño’s expressive male soprano, an instrument of rare beauty applied with sensitivity and virtuosity.”
(Stephen Pettitt, The Sunday Times, March 2021)

Samuel Mariño’s natural musicality and unique vocal talent have set the stage for a career which allows him to explore a wide range of operatic roles in the baroque and classical repertoire.

Originally training as a ballet dancer at the Venezuelan National School of Dance, Samuel began his musical studies in piano and voice at the National Conservatory of Music and his first experiences performing operatic repertoire were with the Camerata Barroca in Caracas where he worked with conductors including Gustavo Dudamel, Helmuth Rilling and Theodore Kuchar. It was these collaborations that ignited his passion for the baroque repertoire and inspired him to further his studies at the Conservatoire de Paris.

Performance highlights of the 2022/23 season include concert debuts in Australia with Australian Brandenburg Orchestra conducted by Paul Dyer, in Canada with Tafelmusik and in the USA with Camerata Pacifica; he will make his UK opera debut at the Glyndebourne Festival as Iris (Semele).

Samuel Mariño made his stage debut at the Halle Handel Festival in 2018, appearing as Alessandro in Handel’s Berenice, a performance that earned him the nomination of Best Revelation Artist in Das OpernWelt. Subsequent opera performances include the role of Demetrio in Gluck’s Angigono with Halle Handel Festival Orchestra under Michael Hofstetter at the Margravial Opera House in Bayreuth, Tamiri in Angesi’s Il Re Pastore with Katowice Academy Baroque Orchestra, Curiazio in Cimarosa’s Gli Orazi e i Curiazi for the Kammeroper Schloss Rheinsberg and staged performances of Handel’s La Resurrezione at Stadttheater Giessen under Michael Hofstetter.

Concert performances have included Bach’s B Minor Mass with Hungarian National Philharmonic Orchestra and Choir conducted by Zsolt Hamar as well as gala concerts in Halle showcasing arias from Chuerubino (Le nozze di Figaro), Fiorilla (Il turco in Italia) and Maria (West Side Story) and he appeared alongside Rolando Villazón on the stage of the Palais Garnier in the final concert of the Rolex Perptual Music series. A burgeoning discography includes Pergolesi’s Stabat Mater with Orchestre de l’Opéra Royal released on the Versailles Spectacles label and his debut solo album Care pupille — a collection of rarities by Handel and Gluck with Handelfestspielorchester Halle — is released on Orfeo and nominated in three Opus Klassik categories in 2021.

Samuel Mariño was awarded the Interpretation Award at the 2017 Opéra de Marseile International Singing Competition and won the 2017 Neue Stimmen Audience prize. He is currently closely mentored by the renowned soprano Barbara Bonney and is the recipient of a scholarship from the Rotary Club of Salzburg. Following his passion for rediscovering music and innovating period performance practice, Samuel founded Ensemble Teseo in 2019, where he aims to bring forgotten Baroque works and techniques to mainstream opera and concert stages.

Gallery

G.B. Pergolesi : Stabat Mater, VI. Vidit suum dulcem natum, Samuel Mariño © Samuel Mariño

“Samuel Mariño shines as the youthful lover Postumio with almost angelic highs that have an incredible clarity, but also underline the impetuous character of the character.”

Online Musik Magazin, August 2022

“he has a voice of great natural beauty and a phenomenal technique.
…that voice allows him to throw off the most demanding coloratura writing with ease, but equally to sing mezza voce cantabile not just in his comfort zone but also at the upper end of his range.”

(Opera Magazine, March 2021)

“Mariño masters the glittering coloratura and intermittent leaps in Handel’s bravura arias with sovereignty and an audible pleasure in the presentation.”

(Klassik.com, August 2020)

“The combination of technical perfection with a stupendous breath control allows the Venezuelan to interpret himself passionately and uninhibitedly”

(Pizzicato.lu, August 2020)

“Mariño sails through them with apparent ease, soaring to a melodious top C. His coloratura is precise and the trills, tight and attacked with immediacy.”

(Rheingold, July 2020)