Australian mezzo-soprano Margaret Plummer was engaged as a principal artist at the Vienna State Opera for eight seasons. During this time Margaret has performed a vast range of repertoire for the company including Hänsel (Hänsel and Gretel), Mercedes (Carmen), Waltraute (Die Walküre), Flosshilde (Das Rheingold and Die Götterdämmerung), Second Norn (Die Götterdämmerung), Blumenmädchen (Parsifal), Siebel (Faust), Varvara (Katya Kabanova), Tebaldo (Don Carlos), Page (Salome), Fenena (Nabucco), Meg Page (Falstaff) also for Hamburg State Opera, Tisbe (La Cenerentola), Hermia (A Midsummer Night’s Dream), Wood Sprite (Rusalka) and Fjodor (Boris Godunov).
On her return to Opera Australia this year, Margaret will star as Prince Charming in the company’s Sydney season production of Cinderella (Cendrillon). Her continuing association with the Vienna State Opera will see her undertake the roles of Adelaide (Arabella), Martha (Iolanta), Second Lady (Die Zauberflöte), Siebel, Emilia (Otello), Clover (Animal Farm), Second Norn and Waltraute, Annina (Der Rosenkavalier), and Charlotte (Werther) and Genevieve (Pelleas et Melisande). Margaret will also return to the Bayreuth Festival to perform Blumenmädchen and 2nd Knappe (Esquire) in Parsifal.
Margaret’s most recent engagements include Emilia, Kitchen Boy (Rusalka) and Clover in the Vienna premiere season of Raskatov’s Animal Farm, all for Vienna State Opera, and her return to the Bayreuth Festival as Blumenmädchen and 2nd Knappe (Esquire) in Parsifal, to the Sydney Symphony as Siegrune (Die Walküre, Simone Young conducting), to the Melbourne Symphony for Beethoven’s Symphony No. 9 and to Sydney Philharmonia Choirs for Messiah.
In 2023 Margaret’s key engagements included her debuts at La Scala, Milan as Auntie in Peter Grimes, and at the Bayreuth Festival as Blumenmädchen and 2nd Knappe (Esquire) in Parsifal. She also returned to the Sydney Symphony Orchestra as Flosshilde in Das Rheingold and to Sydney Philharmonia Choirs in Bach’s Christmas Oratorio.
Prior to winning the 2014 Vienna State Opera Award, Margaret performed extensively with Opera Australia including performances in Handa Opera on Sydney Harbour as well as in regional touring productions. She has also been engaged as Carmen (title role) by Longborough Festival, Charlotte (Werther) and Marguerite (La damnation du Faust) for the Tiroler Landestheater, Innsbruck, in Beethoven’s Symphony No. 9 with the Vienna Philharmonic, Haydn’s Theresienmesse with the Savaria Symphony Orchestra, and Berg’s Seven Early Songs with the Tirol Symphony Orchestra. In Australia she has been heard as Hexe (Hansel and Gretel) with the Sydney Symphony Orchestra, as Phoebe (Castor et Pollux) and Diane (Iphigenie en Tauride) for Pinchgut Opera, as Dorabella (Così fan tutte) for Pacific Opera and in Mozart’s Requiem with the Tasmanian Symphony Orchestra.
Margaret holds a Bachelor of Music from the Sydney Conservatorium of Music.