Marc-Olivier Oetterli
Conductor & Bass Baritone

“Marc-Olivier Oetterli: singer, choirmaster—also proves himself to be an impressive conductor…we are entranced and bewitched by the brilliant result!”
—Le Quotidien Jurassien

“He is certainly on his way to performing on the stages of the major concert halls.”
—Der Opernfreund

The Swiss bass baritone Marc-Olivier Oetterli, known for his “warm timbre” and “passionate stage presence” is also an established conductor. As music director for several concert choirs in Switzerland, he has conducted nearly one hundred concerts, representing a broad range of repertoire for orchestra, choir, and opera in concert version.

Marc-Olivier Oetterli has made a name for himself as bass baritone in opera companies across Austria, France, Germany, and Switzerland performing more than 50 roles from the major operatic repertoire including Prospero: Un re in Ascolto (Berio); Bottom: A Midsummer Night’s Dream (Britten); Leporello: Don Giovanni (Mozart); Don Alfonso: Così fan tutte (Mozart); Figaro: Le Nozze di Figaro (Mozart); Don Magnifico: La Cenerentola (Rossini); Bartolo: Il Barbiere di Siviglia (Rossini); Nick Shadow: The Rake’s Progress (Stravinsky); Ford: Falstaff (Verdi); Fasolt: Rheingold (Wagner); and many others.

As a soloist he has performed hundreds of live concerts and oratorios including the Bach passions, cantatas, the oratorios by Haydn, Mendelssohn, and many more.

His film credits include the feature film production of Mozart Die Zauberflöte starring as the Sprecher. Commercial recordings include Porpora: Il verbo in carne, Kammerorchester Basel, Riccardo Minasi (SONY); Tchaikovsky: Iolanta, Cologne Opera Chorus, Gürzenich Orchestra, Kitayenko (Oehms / Naxos); Enoch zu Gutternberg: Des Königs Zauberflöte, after Mozart’s Die Zauberflöte (Farao / Naxos – DVD); Shostakovich Symphony No. 14, Prague Philharmonia (Czech Radio); Howard Shore: The Lord Of The Rings Symphony (BR-Klassik); and others.

Awards include the ICMA (International Classical Music Awards) for Opera Recording of the Year 2016, Tchaikovsky Jolanthe production with Opera Köln.

He has worked with conductors such as Gerd Albrecht, Michel Corboz, Charles Dutoit, Theodor Guschlbauer, Enoch zu Guttenberg, Christopher Hogwood, Jakub Hrusa, Dmitrij Kitajenko, Fabio Luisi, Gennady Rozhdestvensky, and many others, and appeared as soloist with 21st Century Orchestra, Berner Symphonie-Orchestre, Gürzenich Orchester Köln, Kammerorchester Basel, Orchestre de chambre de Lausanne, Orchestre de la Suisse Romande, Prague Philharmonia, Symphonie-Orchester Basel, Tonhalle Zürich, WDR Rundfunkchor, and in concert halls such as Auditorium Stravinski Montreux, Deutsche Oper am Rhein Düsseldorf, KKL Luzern, Köln Philharmonie, Prinzregententheater München, Rudolfinum Prague, Staatsoper Hannover, St. Martin-in-the-Fields, Sydney Opera, Tonhalle Zürich, to name a few.

As a conductor, Marc-Olivier Oetterli has performed works from the orchestral, choral, and opera concert repertoire including Prokofiev: Ivan the terrible; Beethoven: C-Dur Messe; Szymanowski: Stabat Mater; Gluck: Orphee et Eurydice; Mendelssohn: Die erste Walpurgisnacht; Puccini: Missa di Gloria; Janacek: Vecne Evangelium; Rachmaninoff: Aleko; Shostakovich: Symphony No. 6; Stravinsky: Firebired Suite; de Falla: La vida breve; Gounod: Messe St. Cecile; and others.

Performing the dual role of vocal soloist and conductor, Marc-Olivier Oetterli presents programs combining music from the vocal and orchestral repertoire.

“Marc-Olivier Oetterli has a passionate stage presence.”
—Mittelland Zeitung

This highly charismatic artist challenges the norms of concert presentation with a surprising play on the conductor/performer idiom.

“Swiss bass baritone Marc-Olivier Oetterli sings with an enormous fluency and clarity.”
—Der Opernfreund

An extraordinary, passionate, and brilliant musician, as comfortable in the opera repertoire as the great symphonic literature, Marc-Olivier Oetterli, conductor and bass baritone.