Johannette Zomer

Specializing in Baroque repertoire, Dutch soprano Johannette Zomer has regularly partnered with progressive musicians and conductors active in that sphere while also presenting recitals devoted to standard and present-day works. Born in the Netherlands in 1972, she grew up in a household filled with music and began flute studies at the age of eight. Initially she pursued work as an analyst in a microbiology laboratory, performing with a choir in her free time. One of her fellow singers encouraged her to cultivate her vocal talent, prompting her to enter the Sweelinck Conservatory in Amsterdam for lessons with Charles van Tassel. Upon earning her diploma in 1997, Zomer secured engagements in performances directed by leading Baroque figures such as Reinhard Goebel, Thomas Hengelbrock, Gustav Leonhardt, Frans Brüggen, Ton Koopman, and Philippe Herreweghe. Her solo programs have featured fortepianist Arthur Schoonderwoerd or theorbo player Fred Jacobs at the keyboard or continuo. She made her stage debut in 1996 as Tebaldo in Verdi's Don Carlo for the Nederlandse Reisopera and has continued to take on operatic parts since then. In 2013 Zomer established the Tulipa Consort, which performed at the Göttinger Handel Festspiele in Germany.

Her first recording, issued with Jacobs in 2003, was the Channel Classics release Splendore di Roma, devoted to early Baroque songs. She has remained with that Dutch imprint and has also recorded for the French label Alpha, known for its refined productions that unite music with visual art. In 2017 Channel Classics brought out JUST Bach, on which she collaborated with Baroque oboist Bart Schneemann; the pair had previously recorded Love & Madness, a program of Handel arias. Two years later she released Symphony While the Swans Come Forward, a survey of Henry Purcell arias and songs accompanied by the Dutch Baroque orchestra La Sfera Armoniosa.