Australian mezzo-soprano Margaret Plummer was engaged as a principal artist at the Vienna State Opera for eight seasons. During this time Margaret performed a vast range of repertoire for the company including Hänsel (Hänsel and Gretel), Mercedes (Carmen), Waltraute (Die Walküre), Flosshilde (Das Rheingold and Gőtterdämmerung), Second Norn (Die Gőtterdämmerung), Blumenmädchen (Parsifal), Siebel (Faust), Varvara (Katya Kabanova), Tebaldo (Don Carlos), Page (Salome), Fenena (Nabucco), Meg Page (Falstaff, also for Hamburg State Opera), Tisbe (La Cenerentola), Hermia (A Midsummer Night’s Dream), Wood Sprite (Rusalka) and Fjodor (Boris Godunov).
On her return to Opera Australia this year Margaret will star in the New Year’s Eve Gala and as Hansel in Hansel and Gretel in the Sydney Summer Season. She will then travel to Adelaide to appear in John Adams’ El Nino: Nativity Reconsidered for Adelaide Festival, before returning to Vienna where she will be heard as Waltraute and Second Norn in Die Walküre and Götterdämmerung, and Clover in Animal Farm at the Vienna State Opera. Later in the year she returns to the Sydney Symphony Orchestra to perform the roles of First Norn and Flosshilde in Götterdämmerung, Simone Young conducting.
Margaret’s most recent engagements include Prince Charming in Opera Australia’s Cinderella (Cendrillon). Her continuing association with the Vienna State Opera has also seen her undertake the roles of Adelaide (Arabella), Martha (Iolanta), Second Lady (Die Zauberflöte), Emilia (Otello), Annina (Der Rosenkavalier), Charlotte (Werther), Genevieve (Pelleas et Melisande) and Kitchen Boy (Rusalka).
Other significant engagements for Margaret have included her debuts at La Scala Milan as Auntie in Peter Grimes, and at the Bayreuth Festival as Blumenmädchen and Second Knappe (Esquire) in Parsifal. She has also been engaged as Carmen (title role) by Longborough Festival, Charlotte (Werther) and Marguerite (La damnation du Faust) for the Tiroler Landestheater, Innsbruck, in Beethoven’s Symphony No.9 with the Vienna Philharmonic and Haydn’s Theresienmesse with the Savaria Symphony Orchestra.
Prior to winning the 2014 Vienna State Opera Award, Margaret performed extensively with Opera Australia including performances in Handa Opera on Sydney Harbour as well as in regional touring productions. She was also heard as Hexe (Hansel and Gretel) with the Sydney Symphony Orchestra, as Phoebe (Castor et Pollux) and Diane (Iphigenie en Tauride) for Pinchgut Opera, as Dorabella (Così fan tutte) for Pacific Opera and in Mozart’s Requiem with the Tasmanian Symphony Orchestra.
Margaret holds a Bachelor of Music from the Sydney Conservatorium of Music.