BIOGRAPHY
Marieke de Koker (she/they) is a South African interdisciplinary artist based in New York City.
In the 2024/25 season Marieke's operatic debuts include the roles of Maddalena in Rigoletto and Dorothée in The Anonymous Lover with Finger Lakes Opera. She performs as Pilate in Jesus Christ Superstar with Utopia Opera and is featured in concerts with Opera on Tap, Finger Lakes Opera and Artichoke Dance Company. Marieke also stars in the film Personal Message by
CJ Lin, portraying the role of an opera singer.
Notable operatic and theatrical performances include Béatrice in Béatrice et Bénédict with Shakespeare Opera Theatre, the title role of Iolanthe with Bronx Opera, Susan in The Marriage Counselor with Garden State Opera, Liza Elliott in Lady in the Dark with Bronx Opera's outreach program and Cloud in the world premiere of Iceland with Overtone Industries. Marieke also performed as Giunone in La Calisto with Mannes Opera and Dido in Dido and Aeneas with DePaul University.
Marieke has performed in recitals and world premieres with WQXR radio, Brooklyn Theatre TV, Gauteng Philharmonic Orchestra, RSG Radio, Johannesburg Opera, the Mosaic Composers Collective, and many more. She has received awards from the International Opera Awards Foundation, SOI Cedolins International Opera Competition, Hal Leonard Vocal Competition, Nightingale Opera Theater Competition, among others.
As a composer and interdisciplinary artist, Marieke has completed commissions and residencies with the Artichoke Dance Company's Eco-arts Ambassadors, White Snake Projects's Sing Out Strong, the International Contemporary Ensemble's Ensemble Evolution and the Windybrow Arts Center's Aluta Continua series.
Originally from Pretoria, South Africa, Marieke is an advocate for Pan-African music. She founded the Pan-African Classical Singers Facebook group, home to over 4K members from over 100 countries celebrating opera in Africa.
As winner of the Alsop Entrepreneurship award, Marieke led the design and launch of the Àkójọpọ̀ Music Foundation's nonprofit
e-commerce marketplace for Pan-African art music.
Marieke is a founding board member of the Canadian queer and drag opera company Opéra Queens and is currently a studio manager at EMC Arts.
Marieke received her MM in Vocal Performance and Impact Entrepreneurship from Mannes School of Music at The New School in New York. She holds a BM in Vocal Performance from DePaul University in Chicago. Marieke is a Motion Picture Arts alumnus of the Interlochen Arts Academy High School.
