A native of South Africa, Marieke de Koker is a New York City-based mezzo-soprano. Her 2022/23 season included Speaker in AGAMEMNON (Theatre for a New Audience), Cloud in the world premiere of Iceland (Overtone Industries), Liza Elliott in Lady in the Dark (Bronx Opera Outreach) and Giunone in La Calisto (Mannes Opera). Also In 2023 she won the DePaul Concerto competition with her original song cycle Never Again (2021) based on poetry by Valentine Kizito. In 2021 Marieke was an Emerging Artist at the Windybrow Arts Center in South Africa where she was interviewed on the ETV morning show. She has also appeared with RSG radio, Brooklyn Theatre TV, Gauteng Philharmonic, Career Bridges, Johannesburg Opera, Really Spicy Opera, Windy City Performing Arts, and the Art Song Preservation Society of New York, among others. She is delighted to be making her debut in the title role of Béatrice in Much Ado About Nothing/Béatrice et Bénédict with Shakespeare Opera Theater.