Markus Eiche was born in 1969 in St. Georgen, Germany, and studied with Prof. Bernhard Jaeger-Böhm and Carl Davies at the Music Academy of Stuttgart, where he received his music degree in 1998. He has won several scholarships, has been prize winner of the Robert Saar Competition in Bad Kissingen (1996) and won in 1998 the International Singing Competition "Francesco Viñas" in Barcelona.
All these successes lead quickly to prestigious engagements in Germany and abroad, such as Carmina Burana at the National Theatre of Istanbul; Brahms’s Requiem in Moscow; concerts with Britten's War Requiem in Zurich and Basle; Bach’s St. Matthew Passion in Basle, Bad Homburg and Stuttgart, B Minor Mass in Zurich and Freiburg, Weihnachtsoratorium and St. John Passion in Stuttgart and Freiburg; Sotelo's Angel Del Terra in Cologne (world première); Schoeck's Erwin und Elmire on a concert tour of Switzerland; Beethoven's 9th Symphony in Reutlingen; Mahler's Lieder eines Fahrenden Gesellen in Madrid; Landowski's Le Mystere de la Creation in Reutlingen (world première); Mendelssohn's Elijah in St.Georgen and Konstanz; Handel's Saul on a tour of Italy; Aribert Reimann's Nachtstücke at the Expo 2000, and Paulus in Stuttgart, as well as recitals in Germany and Spain.
In Prague he sang the role of "Conte Almaviva" in a new production of Le Nozze di Figaro and at the Staatstheater Stuttgart he appeared as "Der Menschenfresser" in Cui's Der Gestiefelte Kater, "Hans" in Udo Zimmermann's Die Weisse Rose, "Nazarener" in Salome and "Zweiter Priester" in Die Zauberflöte. At the Biennale in Munich he was invited to sing the baritone part in Sotelo's De Amore which included performances in Amsterdam, Antwerp, Enschede and Madrid. At the Salzburg Festival he sang in Busoni's Doktor Faustus, in Don Carlo, in Tristan und Isolde, and in Ariadne auf Naxos.
In 2000 he made his debut at the Teatro alla Scala, Milano as "Handwerksbursche" in Berg's Wozzeck. The Nederlandse Opera Amsterdam invited him to cover the title role of Eugen Onegin and to sing in L’incoronazione di Poppea. Furthermore he appeared at the Grand Teatre del Liceu Barcelona as "Conte Almaviva" in Le Nozze di Figaro, in Wolf-Ferrari's Sly (with José Carreras and Sherrill Milnes) and as "Curio" in Giulio Cesare. In December 2000 he made his debut with the Orchestre de Paris in concert performances of Richard Strauss's Capriccio (plus CD) under Gustav Kuhn. In the spring of 2001 he recorded a CD (NAXOS) of "Schubert Lieder".
The Gran Teatre del Liceu Barcelona invited him to sing "Jeletzki" in Pique Dame (with Placido Domingo), and the Lucerne Opera for a scenic version of Schumann's Faust Szenen. Since the season 2001/02, Markus Eiche has joined the Ensemble of the Nationaltheater Mannheim where he has sung roles such as "Marcello" in La Boheme, "Wolfram" in Tannhäuser, "Papageno" in Die Zauberflöte and "Ping" in Turandot.
February, 2002
