Marie-Sophie Pollak studied at the Munich University of Music and Theatre with Prof. Gabriele Fuchs, graduating with distinction. While still a student, she made her debut at the Innsbruck Festival of Early Music as Vespetta in Telemann's Pimpinone and was subsequently heard in the title role of Scarlatti's La Dirindina and in Bach's Mass in B minor, both under the musical direction of Alessandro De Marchi.

The soprano is a regular guest with such renowned orchestras and ensembles as the Hamburg Philharmonic State Orchestra, the Orchestre Symphonique de Montréal, Akademie für Alte Musik Berlin, Freiburg Baroque Orchestra, the Canadian chamber orchestra Les Violons du Roy, the Ensemble Concerto München and Camerata Salzburg, she has worked alongside conductors including Bernard Labadie, Ivor Bolton, Gianluca Capuano, Thomas Hengelbrock, Václav Luks, Alessandro De Marchi, Kent Nagano, Sir Roger Norrington, Hans-Christoph Rademann and Jean-Christophe Spinosi.

Marie-Sophie Pollak maintains a special collaboration with the Hamburg Ballet and John Neumeier, performing in the latter’s adaptations of Gluck's Orphée et Eurydice, Bach's Christmas Oratorio and the Mass in B minor  (with the title “Dona nobis pacem”) at the Hamburg State Opera and the Festspielhaus Baden-Baden. She has additionally appeared under the direction of Kent Nagano in various projects, including Haydn's The Seasons and Mozart's Mass in C minor at the Elbphilharmonie in Hamburg, followed by Haydn's The Creation with the Haydn Orchestra of Bolzano and Trento, and in Madrid with the Orquesta y Coro Nacionales de España.

Further projects in recent seasons include Mendelssohn's Elijah with the Balthasar Neumann Choir & Ensemble under Thomas Hengelbrock, Gluck's Orfeo ed Euridice with the Akademie für Alte Musik Berlin under Alexander Liebreich and Schumann's Das Paradies und die Peri – the latter both with the Gewandhaus Orchester Leipzig under Philippe Herreweghe, and with the Gürzenich Orchester Köln under François-Xavier Roth. At the Magdeburg Telemann Festival, accompanied by the Akademie für Alte Musik Berlin under Georg Kallweit, Marie-Sophie Pollak gave another guest performance of Telemann's Intermezzo Pimpinone, while at the International Baroque Days at Melk Abbey she was heard in Telemann's rarely performed oratorio Der Tag des Gerichts under Ivor Bolton. Mendelssohn's Elijah was again the focus of a collaboration with the Akademie für Alte Musik Berlin and the Audi Youth Choir Academy conducted by Martin Steidler.

Recent collaborations with the RIAS Kammerchor Berlin have taken Marie-Sophie to the Berlin Philharmonie for a New Year's concert under Justin Doyle and, as part of a staged adaptation of Purcell's King Arthur, to the Konzerthaus Berlin and the Schwetzingen SWR Festival.

Engagements in the current season include her debut with the Würth Philharmoniker with Bach's Magnificat and a Christmas concert based on works by Johann Sebastian Bach and Johann Adolph Scheibe with Max Volbers and Concerto Köln at the Cologne Philharmonie.

Marie-Sophie Pollak's discography to date includes Telemann's Pimpinone, recorded at the Magdeburg Telemann Festival, Handel's Ode Alexander's Feast with the Vox Orchestra & Vox Choir under Lorenzo Ghirlanda, and the world premiere recording of Attilio Ariosti's oratorio La Profezia d'Elisio nell'Assedio di Samaria, premiered in Vienna in 1705, with the Ensemble Lorenzo da Ponte under Roberto Zarpellon. To mark the Reformation anniversary year in 2017, Marie-Sophie Pollak also recorded three cantatas by Johann Sebastian Bach from texts by Martin Luther, together with Christoph Spering and his Chorus Musicus Köln. The recording, released by Deutsche Harmonia Mundi, was awarded the Echo Klassik 2017 for best choral recording of the year.

2024 | 2025

This biography is to be reproduced without any changes, omissions or additions, unless expressly authorized by artist management.

www.marie-sophie-pollak.de