Her Fiordiligi in Jürgen Flimm’s production of Cosi fan tutte with Nikolaus Harnoncourt conducting the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra, January 1990 in Amsterdam, put Charlotte Margiono without any doubt at the international top of Mozart sopranos. After her first Nozze di Figaro in Bern in January 1988 many Contessas were to follow in numerous new productions (Hamburg 1990/94, Aix-en-Provence 1991, Bordeaux 1995, Amsterdam 1993 and Dresden 1995, Vienna and, with the Wiener Staatsoper, in Japan 1994). Her Mozart roles include Vitellia in La Clemenza di Tito (Aix 1988, Salzburg 1991), Erste Dame in Die Zauberflöte (Amsterdam 1988, Aix 1989), Pamina in Die Zauberflöte (Bordeaux 1992), Aminda in La Finta Giardiniera (Parijs 1991) and, her favourite, Donna Elvira in Don Giovanni (with John Eliot Gardiner in Parma, Amsterdam, London, Ludwigsburg 1994).
In addition to these Mozart-roles Charlotte Margiono is gradually building a wide lyrical repertoire: Marie in Die Verkaufte Braut, Mimi in La Bohème, Agathe in Der Freischütz (role debut in Hamburg 1999), Desdemona in Otello (role debut in Paris and Amsterdam, 1994), Rusalka (role debut in the Netherlands 1998), Marguerite in a concert performance of La Damnation de Faust to close the Bernard Haitink Festival in the Amsterdam Concertgebouw (1999), and Eva in Meistersinger (role debut in Amsterdam 2000).
Future engagements for new roles include Leonore in Fidelio (Sir Simon Rattle, Glyndebourne 2001), Elsa in Lohengrin (Amsterdam 2002), Chrysothemis in Elektra (Brussel 2002). 3 Conductors with whom Charlotte Margiono is frequently singing are a.o. Claudio Abbado, Gerd Albrecht, Gary Bertini, Frans Brüggen, Sir Colin Davis, John Eliot Gardiner, Valery Gergiev, Carlo Maria Giulini, Hartmut Haenchen, Bernard Haitink, Nikolaus Harnoncourt, Armin Jordan, James Judd, Alain Lombard, Ingo Metzmacher, Antonio Pappano, Wolfgang Sawallisch, Marc Soustrot, Edo de Waart en Franz Welser-Möst.
Almost all leading international orchestras such as the Berliner Philharmoniker, the Wiener Philharmoniker, l’Orchestre National de France, Madrid, Santa Caecilia, Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra, Florence and Orchester der Beethovenhalle Bonn regularly invite the soprano for a.o. Mahler Symphony 2 and 4, Rossini Stabat Mater, Strauss Vier letzte Lieder, Berlioz Les Nuits d’été, Verdi Requiem, Ravel Shéhérazade, Berg Sieben Frühe Lieder, Beethoven IX, Missa Solemnis and, especially, Ah Perfido!
Charlotte Margiono’s voice is recorded a.o. as Erste Dame in Die Zauberflöte (Erato), Missa Solemnis, Ah Perfido!, Donna Elvira in Don Giovanni with John Eliot Gardiner (DGG-Archiv), Brahms’ Ein Deutsches Requiem (Philips), Cosi fan tutte (Fiordiligi), La Finta Giardiniera (Arminda), Le Nozze di Figaro (Contessa), various Mozart Masses and Beethovens Fidelio (Harnoncourt/Teldec). Strauss’ Jugendlieder were recorded with the accompaniment of Friedrich Haider.
Recently Charlotte Margiono has founded her own Margiono Quintet, with four leading string-players from the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra. The official debut of the Margiono Quintet in the Amsterdam Concertgebouw in November 1998 was an enormous success. Several national and international chambermusic festivals already showed their interest in the Quintet.
