Menno van Slooten

The Dutch baritone Menno van Slooten studied at the Sweelinck Conservatoire Amsterdam with Cora Canne Meijer. In 1991 he obtained diplomas in Song, Opera and Oratorio. While still a student, he sang the role of the Forest Ranger in Het Sluwe Vosje (Janácek). His opera debut followed as Ramiro in L'Heure Espagnole (Ravel), conducted by Ed Spanjaard. In the concert hall he sang the baritone part in Stravinsky's ballet Pulcinella, conducted by Lev Markiz.

He has given song recitals and concerts at various summer festivals in the south of France, with works by Schubert, Beethoven, Berlioz, Fauré, Duparc and Myriam O'Dell, among others, as well as bass parts in the Stabat Mater, the Applause Cantata by Haydn and the Choral Fantasy by Beethoven. He has also been invited to give a concert as part of the International Ezra Pound Symposium in France, featuring compositions by Pound himself.

Menno van Slooten was part of Camerata Trajectina for a CD production on music from the Remonstrants period. He also participated in radio concerts by VARA, TROS and KRO, amongst others in the 3rd Symphony by Carl Nielsen, Andrea Chenier (Giordano) - both conducted by Kees Bakels, L'Enfance du Christ (Berlioz) with Serge Baudo, Gianni Schicchi (Puccini) conducted by Alexander Rahbari and Il Mondo della Luna (Haydn) with conductor Ádám Fischer.

In the theatre, he sang the role of Oberon in a production of A Midsummernight's Dream/The Fairy Queen by Shakespeare/Purcell, accompanied by period instruments, with performances throughout the Netherlands. More recently, he sang in a comic music-theatre production (2006) The Voluptuous Tango (Muldowney/Mairowitz), which was performed with great success in Amsterdam and Rotterdam, among other cities. In 2010, he sang at the biennial opera summer of Mosset in the French Pyrenees the role of Frère Laurent in Roméo et Juliette by Gounod.

Menno van Slooten was a production assistant at Radio 4 and was responsible for the vocal casting of the KRO Special Music Productions in the years 1995-1999 in the then Vredenburg in Utrecht. He was a guest with the choir of De Nationale Opera and sings freelance with the Nederlands Kamerkoor. Since 2010 he has been a permanent member of the Groot Omroepkoor.