Marie-Sophie Pollak studied at the Munich University of Music and Theatre with Prof. Gabriele Fuchs, graduating with distinction. While still a student, she made her debut at the Innsbruck Festival of Early Music as Vespetta in Telemann's comedy Pimpinone oder Die ungleiche Heirat and was subsequently heard in the title role in Scarlatti's La Dirindina and in Bach's Mass in B minor, both under the musical direction of Alessandro De Marchi.

A regular guest with such renowned orchestras and ensembles as the Hamburg Philharmonic State Orchestra, the Orchestre Symphonique de Montréal, Akademie für Alte Musik Berlin, Freiburg Baroque Orchestra, the Canadian chamber orchestra Les Violons du Roy, the Ensemble Concerto München and Camerata Salzburg, she has worked alongside conductors including Bernard Labadie, Ivor Bolton, Gianluca Capuano, Thomas Hengelbrock, Václav Luks, Alessandro De Marchi, Kent Nagano, Sir Roger Norrington, Hans-Christoph Rademann and Jean-Christophe Spinosi.

Primary highlights of her now international concert career were Haydn's oratorio The Seasons under Kent Nagano at the Audi Summer Concerts, and her debut at the Vienna Musikverein with Handel's Susanna under Martin Haselböck. At the Théâtre du Châtelet she made her debut with Jean-Christophe Spinosi and his Ensemble Matheus in the role of Tamiri in Mozart's Il re pastore, while at the Lugano Festival she interpreted Mozart's concert aria "Ch'io mi scordi di te" together with Christian Zacharias and the Orchestra della Svizzera Italiana. With the Czech Collegium 1704 conducted by Václav Luks, Marie-Sophie Pollak was heard as soloist in Handel's Messiah.

Marie-Sophie Pollak maintains a special collaboration with the Hamburg Ballet and John Neumeier, performing in the latter’s staged ballet versions of Gluck's Orphée et Eurydice, Bach's Christmas Oratorio and the Mass in B minor  (Dona nobis pacem) at the Hamburg State Opera and the Festspielhaus Baden-Baden. She has additionally appeared under the direction of Kent Nagano in various collaborations, including Haydn's The Seasons and Mozart's Mass in C minor at the Elbphilharmonie in Hamburg and Haydn's The Creation with the Haydn Orchestra of Bolzano and Trento.

Further projects in recent seasons include Mendelssohn's Elijah with the Balthasar Neumann Choir & Ensemble under Thomas Hengelbrock, Gluck's Orfeo ed Euridice with the Akademie für Alte Musik Berlin under Alexander Liebreich and Schumann's Das Paradies und die Peri with the Gewandhaus Orchester Leipzig under Philippe Herreweghe, as well as with the Gürzenich Orchester Köln under François-Xavier Roth. At the Magdeburg Telemann Festival, accompanied by the Akademie für Alte Musik Berlin under Georg Kallweit, Marie-Sophie Pollak gave another guest performance of Telemann's Intermezzo Pimpinone, while at the International Baroque Days at Melk Abbey she was heard in Telemann's rarely performed oratorio Der Tag des Gerichts under Ivor Bolton. Mendelssohn's Elijah was again the focus of a collaboration with the Akademie für Alte Musik Berlin and the Audi Youth Choir Academy conducted by Martin Steidler.

In the current season, Marie-Sophie Pollak can be heard again with Bach's Mass in B Minor and his Christmas Oratorio at the Festspielhaus Baden-Baden and at the Hamburg State Opera, and will take part in Handel's Israel in Egypt at the Berlin Philharmonie as part of the RIAS Kammerchor's New Year's Concert under Justin Doyle. In addition to Haydn's The Creation with the Orquesta y Coro Nacionales de España under Kent Nagano in Madrid, the soprano will subsequently be heard at the final concert of the Magdeburg Telemann Festival 2024 and in a semi-staged version of Purcell's King Arthur at the Konzerthaus Berlin and Schwetzingen.

Marie-Sophie Pollak's discography to date includes Telemann's Pimpinone, recorded at the Magdeburg Telemann Festival, Handel's Ode Alexander's Feast with the Vox Orchestra & Vox Choir under Lorenzo Ghirlanda, and the world premiere recording of Attilio Ariosti's oratorio La Profezia d'Elisio nell'Assedio di Samaria, premiered in Vienna in 1705, with the Ensemble Lorenzo da Ponte under Roberto Zarpellon. To mark the Reformation anniversary year in 2017, Marie-Sophie Pollak also recorded three cantatas by Johann Sebastian Bach from texts by Martin Luther, together with Christoph Spering and his Chorus Musicus Köln. The recording, released by Deutsche Harmonia Mundi, was awarded the Echo Klassik 2017 for best choral recording of the year.

2023 | 2024

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