Hailed as ‘exquisite’ by Gramophone, Soprano STELLA MARKOU has performed internationally as a soloist in oratorio, opera, and on the concert stage. She has been a featured guest artist with the Edinburgh Contemporary Musical Ensemble, Union Avenue Opera, Masterworks Chorale, Dance New Amsterdam Company, University of Nevada Las Vegas Concert Series, Ambassadors of Harmony, Arianna String Quartet, and the Nashville Ballet.

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A passionate performer of contemporary music, her festival work includes the Edinburgh Fringe Festival, Heidelberg New Music Festival, International Computer Music Conference, Paros Parks Festival, Electronic Music Midwest, Xortos Music Festival, and the Society for Electro-Acoustic Music (SEAMUS).

Her stage performances include roles in Pique Dame, Die Zauberflöte, The Turn of the Screw, The Mikado, The Telephone, and The Songstress, among others. She has also been a featured soloist in several masterworks, including Orff's Carmina Burana, Fauré's Requiem, Haydn’s Lord Nelson's Mass, Brahms’ Ein deutsches Requiem, Handel’s Messiah, Poulenc’s Gloria, Mozart's Requiem, Rutter's Gloria, and Bach’s Jauchzet Gott in allen landen.

Highly esteemed as a performer and master teacher, Dr. Markou serves as Associate Professor and Coordinator of Voice and Opera at the University of Kansas. As a director, her opera productions have twice won first place in the National Opera Association’s opera production competition and have also won first place in the American Prize for Opera Production.

 

A native of Arizona, Dr. Markou received her Bachelor of Music from the Oberlin Conservatory of Music, Master of Music from the Cleveland Institute of Music, and Doctorate of Musical Arts from The University of Arizona.