Anna Markland (born 23 May 1964) (also known as Anna Markland-Crookes and Anna Crookes)) is an English soprano and pianist who won the BBC Young Musician of the Year competition in 1982, playing Rachmaninov’s Second Piano Concerto. She has featured in a long-term study of the lives of gifted children.

Education and early life Markland grew up in a small house on a council estate in Wirral. Her grandparents on each side had immigrated from Ireland to Liverpool, her father's side being "factory hands" and on her maternal great-grandparents concert musicians. Her grandmother graduated from Trinity College Dublin with a degree in music at just 14 years old. She studied at Chetham's School of Music (1974–1983) with Heather Slade-Lipkin where she was encouraged to play the piano. She achieved an ARCM diploma at the age of 17. In 1984, she won an instrumental scholarship to Worcester College, Oxford where she studied for a BA Honours degree in Music while continuing her piano performance schedule, also singing with the choir or Worcester College and with Schola Cantorum of Oxford. This was followed by two years' postgraduate piano study with Philip Fowke and vocal study with Kenneth Bowen at the Royal Academy of Music.

Career Pianist In 1982, Markland was the first female and pianist to win the BBC Young Musician of the Year competition. She has performed with several British orchestras including the BBC Northern Symphony Orchestra, Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, and the London Philharmonic Orchestra.

She has accompanied vocalists including Roderick Williams, James Gilchrist, Paul Agnew, Nicholas Mulroy, Matthew Brook, and Clare Wilkinson. She has also accompanied the vocal ensemble I Fagiolini.

Markland has run Masterclasses for schools, including at Monkton Combe School near Bath in 1998.Monkton Combe School Archives

Soprano In 1986, while studying at Oxford, Markland became a founding member of the vocal ensemble I Fagiolini. She subsequently toured and recorded extensively with the group, which specialises in Renaissance and contemporary music and has received a number of awards.

She is a founding member of Tenebrae, The Finzi Singers and the Britten Sinfonia Voices, and has performed with The Sixteen, The Monteverdi Choir, The Dunedin Consort, Trinity Baroque, Les Arts Florissants, La Grande Chapelle, The Scholars’ Baroque Ensemble, Pixels Ensemble and the BBC Singers.

Radio and television Markland appeared throughout the 1982 BBC Young Musician of the Year series and in subsequent years as an interviewed guest in 1984 and as a judge in 2010 for the keyboards category final. She was interviewed on BBC World Service's Meridian shortly after winning the competition, she was the subject of a BBC documentary feature on past competition winners in 1984, twice again in 1986, and then in 1988.

She presented a series of BBC Radio 3’s Young Artists’ Forum highlights in 1995.

On the subject of gifted children, she was interviewed on BBC Radio 4's Woman's Hour programme in September 2010 and in I was a Child Prodigy (2008).BBC Radio 4 I Was a Child Prodigy

She has performed live on BBC Radio 3's In Tune in April 2016.BBC Radio 3 In Tune Hollingworth Markland 27.04.16

Audio recordings

+ Audio discography Year Title Other artists Role Label 1990 The Art of Monteverdi I Fagiolini, Robert Hollingworth Soprano Factory 1991 Bliss Choral Works Finzi Singers, Paul Spicer, Roderick Williams Soprano Chandos 1993 Howells and Bax Choral Works Finzi Singers, Paul Spicer Soprano Chandos1993Warlock and Moeran Choral WorksFinzi Singers, Paul SpicerSopranoChandos1994InsalataI Fagiolini, Robert HollingworthSopranoMetronome1994Elgar Part-songsFinzi Singers, Paul SpicerSopranoChandos1994Walton Choral WorksFinzi Singers, Paul SpicerSopranoChandos1995Tippett Choral WorksFinzi Singers, Paul SpicerSopranoChandos1995Purcell The Indian QueenScholars Baroque Ensemble, David Van AschSopranoNaxos1995Handel The Messiah HighlightsScholars Baroque Ensemble, David Van AschSopranoNaxos1995Bach Magnificat, Cantata ‘Ich habe genug’Schola Cantorum / Nicholas WardSopranoNaxos1995The Early ByrdI Fagiolini, Robert HollingworthSopranoChandos1996Schütz Christmas StoryOxford Camerata, Jeremy SummerlySopranoNaxos1996Bach Magnificat, Christmas OratorioChoir of New College, Oxford, Edward HigginbottomSopranoBBC Music1996Bach MotetsScholars Baroque Ensemble, David Van AschSopranoNaxos1997Purcell Dido and AeneasScholars Baroque Ensemble, David Van AschSopranoNaxos1997Handel Dixit Dominus, Salve Regina, Nisi DominusScholars Baroque Ensemble, David Van AschSopranoNaxos1997Kenneth Leighton Choral musicFinzi Singers, Paul SpicerSopranoChandos1997The Caged ByrdI Fagiolini, Robert HollingworthSopranoChandos1997Vivaldi Gloria, Bach MagnificatSchola Cantorum, Nicholas WardSopranoNaxos1998Purcell The Indian QueenScholars Baroque Ensemble, David Van AschSopranoNaxos2001Croce Carnevale VenezianoI Fagiolini, Robert HollingworthSopranoChandos2003Mother and ChildTenebrae, Nigel ShortSopranoSignum2003The Dream of HerodTenebrae, Nigel ShortSopranoSignum2006Monteverdi Flaming HeartI Fagiolini, Robert HollingworthSopranoChandos2006Howells Choral WorksFinzi Singers, Paul SpicerSopranoChandos2006Handel MessiahDunedin Consort, John ButtSopranoLinn2009Monteverdi Sweet TormentI Fagiolini, Robert HollingworthSopranoChandos 2010 Johann Mattheson: Christmas Oratorio; Magnificat Kölner Akademie, Michael Alexander Willens Soprano CPO2011Magnificat: Rogier and Palestrina choral worksPhilip Cave, His Majestys Sagbutts & CornettsSopranoLinn2012Dover Beach Choral Music, songs by Stephen WilkinsonStephen Wilkinson, Stephen Wilkinson ChoirSopranoDeux-Elles 2016 Amuse-Bouche I Fagiolini, Robert Hollingworth Piano solo and soprano Decca 2017 The Sunlight on the Garden: The Songs of Stephen Wilkinson Stephen Wilkinson, choir Piano accompaniment Signum2019Leonardo: Shaping the InvisibleI Fagiolini, Robert HollingworthSopranoCoro 2020 Fresh Air Breathe Out Various Piano solo Besant Hall

Filmography +YearTitleOther artistsRoleLabel2007SimunyeSDASA Chorale, I FagioliniSopranoPolyphonic Films2007The Full MonteverdiI Fagiolini, John La BouchardièreSoprano / actorPolyphonic Films2013How Like an AngelI Fagiolini, CircaSoprano / actorIAR2016Ode à la GastronomieI Fagiolini, John La Bouchardière ActorPolyphonic Films2016Amuse-BoucheI FagioliniPiano / sopranoDecca2020The Stag HuntI Fagiolini, John La BouchardièreSoprano / actorPolyphonic Films

References

Bibliography

External links Winners of the BBC Young Musician of the Year