The Dutch soprano Johannette Zomer began her studies at the Sweelinck Conservatorium Amsterdam in 1990 with Charles van Tassel, after having worked as a microbiology analyst for several years. In June 1997 she was awarded her Performance Diploma. Her present coach is Diane Forlano, London . 
         Her repertoire, as shown in her discography, ranges from medieval music (Cantigas de Santa Maria )  through all music of the baroque and classical eras, including opera, but also Lieder (Schubert songs) , French Romanticism (Faure’s Requiem) and Contemporary music. The prestigious ‘Gramophone’ magazine said of her: “A new voice to watch”. 
       Johannette’s concert appearances are also many and various. She has worked with Baroque specialists such as Philippe Herreweghe, Ton Koopman, Frans Brüggen, René Jacobs, Reinard  Goebel and Paul McCreesh, but has also worked with conductors including Kent Nagano, Marcus Creed, Daniel Harding, Valery Gergiev, Reinbert de Leeuw and Peter Eötvös.

            She regularly gives recitals accompanied by fortepiano specialist Arthur Schoonderwoerd or theorbo player Fred Jacobs. She is also a member of the Early Music ensembles Compania Vocale and Antequera with whom she sings Napolitan/Spanish Baroque and Medieval Cantigas.

            In October 1996 Johannette made her opera debut as the page Tebaldo in Verdi's Don Carlo with the Nationale Reisopera (the Dutch Touring Opera Company). Since then she has made regular appearances in roles including Belinda, Pamina, La Musica , Euridice, Dalinda and Ilia, but also as Amanda in Ligeti’s Le Grand Macabre and Mélisande in Debussy’s Pelléas et Mélisande.

Johannette Zomer sings with such range of inflection and commitment that one almost feels  that the works were in her blood by right on ‘Death & Devotion’

Gramophone, May 2004, Editor’s Choice 

Zomer’s natural and unforced soprano rings out true and clear, with vibrato just one of many devices in her expressive quiver on  J.S. Bach’s ‘ Christmas Oratorio’ with the Dutch Bach Society,

International Record Review, October 2003

2006 / 2007

 

Discography (recent releases):

Fauré Requiem (HMC 901771) with Philippe Herreweghe

Schubert Songs (Alpha 044) with Arthur Schoonderwoerd, piano forte

Complete Bach Cantatas Volume 19 (CC 0072219) with Ton Koopman

‘Nuove Musiche’, Giulio Caccini (CCS 21305) with Fred Jacobs, theorbo

‘Leçons de Ténèbres’, François Couperin (CCS 20306)