Pianist Mark Markham is best known around the world for his partnership with the soprano Jessye Norman. Starting in 1995 for twenty seasons, they gave nearly 300 performances in thirty countries, including recitals in Carnegie Hall, Chicago Symphony Hall, Davies Symphony Hall in San Francisco, the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam, the Philharmonie in Berlin, La Palau de la Musica in Barcelona, London’s Royal Festival Hall, the Musikverein in Vienna, the Salzburg Festival, Bunka Kaikan in Tokyo, the Seoul Arts Center, the Municipal Theater in Rio de Janeiro, Mann Auditorium in Tel Aviv, the Ancient Theatre of Epidaurus in Greece, the Baalbek Festival at the Temple of Bacchus in Lebanon, and at the 2002 Nobel Peace Prize presentation to President Jimmy Carter in Oslo.

Born in Pensacola, Florida, Mr. Markham made his debut in 1980 as soloist with the New Orleans Symphony Orchestra and in the same year was invited by the renowned Boris Goldovsky to coach opera at the Oglebay Institute. His teachers at the time, Robert and Trudie
Sherwood, were supportive of all his musical endeavors from solo repertoire, vocal accompanying, and chamber music to Broadway and jazz. During the next ten years as a student at the Peabody Conservatory, where he received the BM, MM and DMA degrees in piano performance, this same support for the diversity of his musical gifts came from Ann Schein, a pupil of Mieczyslaw Munz and the great Artur Rubinstein. While under her tutelage he won several competitions including the Munz Competition and the First Prize and the Contemporary Music Prize at the 1988 Frinna Awerbuch International Piano Competition in New York City. While still a student at the conservatory Mr. Markham toured with soprano Phyllis Bryn-Julson, a collaboration that resulted in critically acclaimed recordings of works by Messiaen, Carter, Dallapiccola, Schuller, and Wuorinen. In addition, he has toured the US, Europe, and Asia with countertenor Derek Lee Ragin and also performed with Gordon Hawkins, Theodora Hanslowe, Christine Brewer, Steven Cole, Veronica Tyler, Isabel Leonard, Limmie Pulliam, Eric Owens, Lise Davidsen, Leah Crocetto, Elizabeth DeShong, J’Nai Bridges and Vinson Cole. In 2017 he created the non-profit foundation Singing in Sicily, an intensive summer training program for young talented singers from around the world.

As a soloist Mr Markham has been presented in recital at Weill Recital Hall at Carnegie Hall, Market Square Concerts in Harrisburg PA, the Getty Museum in Los Angeles, the Corcoran Gallery in Washington DC, the Spire Series in Baltimore, at First Plymouth Church in Lincoln, and at the Peabody Conservatory for the presentation of the Distinguished Alumni Award from The Johns Hopkins University in 2017. He has also performed as soloist with the Concert Artists of Baltimore, the Eastern Connecticut Symphony, the Pensacola Symphony Orchestra and Lincoln’s Symphony Orchestra.

Much appreciated by the public for his improvisational skills, Mr. Markham performed at the Expo 2000 in Hannover, Germany, where he collaborated with Sir Peter Ustinov for a live television broadcast throughout the country. His gift for jazz has been recognized in the Sacred Ellington, a program created by Ms. Norman in which he served as pianist and musical director, which toured Europe, the Middle East and finished in 2009 with a performance at the Cathedral of St John the Divine in New York City. His recording with Jessye Norman of “Roots: My Life, My Song” was nominated for a Grammy Award.

Mr Markham is a former faculty member of the Peabody Institute of The Johns Hopkins University, Morgan State University, the Norfolk Festival of Yale University and the Britten- Pears School of the Aldeburgh Festival in England. He has given master classes throughout the US, Europe and Asia and has been a guest lecturer for The Johns Hopkins University and the Metropolitan Opera Guild.