German tenor Markus Francke was born in Freiburg im Breisgau, where he early appeared as a boy soprano. Upon completing his Abitur, he first began to study Musicology, and then Choral Conducting und Voice at the Music Academy in Cologne. At this time he received further valuable impulses from Peter Schreier and Francisco Araiza. Early roles of the tenor include Tamino in Die Zauberflöte at the Landestheater Detmold, Lindoro in Die Italienerin in Algier at the Musiktheater im Revier Gelsenkirchen, as well as Sam in Brittens Paul Bunyan at the Bregenzer Festspiele. He was a regular guest at the Theater Pforzheim, performing such demanding roles as Mollfels in Glanerts Scherz, Satire, Ironie und tiefere Bedeutung and Usher in The Fall of the House of Usher. Markus Francke was a member of the opera company of the Hessisches Staatstheater Wiesbaden from 2012 – 2014, where he appeared as Rosillon in Die lustige Witwe, Tamino and as the Tanzmeister in Ariadne auf Naxos. In addition he celebrated a major success with his debut as the Steuermann in Der fliegende Holländer. In May 2014 he made his successful debut at the Bayerische Staatsoper Munich with the role of the Tanzmeister. He was a soloist in concerts of Nono’s Prometeo and Canto sospeso in Amsterdam and Zurich under the musical direction of Ingo Metzmacher. In recent seasons he sang the roles of Belmonte in Die Entführung aus dem Serail in Pforzheim, L’Aumonier in Dialoge der Karmeliterinnen in Klagenfurt, Regisseur in Un re in ascolta in Kassel, and Filipeto in Die vier Grobiane with the Münchner Rundfunkorchester under the musical direction of Ulf Schirmer. Further he gave his successful debuts as Don José in Carmen at the Schlossfestspiele in Sondershausen and as Matteo in Arabella at the Oper Leipzig under the baton of Ulf Schirmer. As a current member of the Staatsoperette Dresden he performs roles including Tamino, Hans in Die verkaufte Braut and Eisenstein in Die Fledermaus. Future productions include the title role in Candide in Dresden and Fenton in Die lustigen Weiber von Windsor at the Anhaltisches Theater Dessau. Markus Francke is a much sought-after performer of Baroque and Oratorio-literature, including the role of the Evangelist in the works of Johann Sebastian Bach. His concert repertoire expands a period from the Renaissance to the Modern. He has sung in the cathedrals of Santiago de Compostela and Reims, in the Philharmonie in Berlin and in Cologne, in St. Michaelis in Hamburg, in the Liederhalle Stuttgart, the Frauenkirche in Dresden and in the Dome in Cologne, as well as with the RuhrTriennale, in Paris and in Finnland. Numerous radio- and CD-recordings attest to his artistic achievement.