Max van Egmond studied voice at
Hilversum with Tine van Willingen de Lorme. At the age of eighteen he became a member of
De Nederlandse Bachvereniging (Netherlands Bach Society). Starting in 1965, he became involved in the complete Bach recordings of
Gustav Leonhardt,
Nikolaus Harnoncourt and
Frans Brüggen. He recorded the
St Matthew Passion under
Claudio Abbado in 1969 and Nikolaus Harnoncourt in 1970, singing the bass arias. In 1973, he was the
Vox Christi in the first historically informed performance in the Netherlands of Bach's
St Matthew Passion.
Johan van der Meer conducted the
Groningse Bachvereniging, the
Evangelist was
Marius van Altena, the other soloists were three boys of the
Tölzer Knabenchor,
René Jacobs,
Harry Geraerts, Michiel ten Houte de Lange, Frits van Erven Dorens and
Harry van der Kamp.
Ton Koopman and
Bob van Asperen played the organs. In 1977, he performed the part with
Charles de Wolff and De Nederlandse Bachvereniging, in 1989 with Gustav Leonhardt. In the
St John Passion he recorded the words of Jesus in 1965 with Harnoncourt and the
Concentus Musicus Wien, in 1979 with van der Meer, in 1986 with de Wolff, and in 1987 the arias with
Sigiswald Kuijken and
La Petite Bande. He participated in recordings of Monteverdi's operas with Harnoncourt, ''
L'Orfeo in 1968, and the first complete recording of Il ritorno d'Ulisse in patria'' in 1971. He also performed more recent operas, such as the world premieres at
De Nederlandse Opera of
Jurriaan Andriessen's
Het Zwarte Blondje in 1962 and of
Antony Hopkins' ''Three's Company'' in 1963. In 1969 he was the soloist in Reger's
Hebbel Requiem in concerts recorded live in the
Berliner Philharmonie with
Junge Kantorei,
Symphonisches Orchester Berlin and conductor
Joachim Carlos Martini. In 1976 he performed with the same choir Handel's
Messiah in
Eberbach Abbey. In 1998 he sang the words of Jesus in Bach's
St Matthew Passion in
St. Martin, Idstein with
Elisabeth Scholl,
Andreas Scholl and
Max Ciolek as the Evangelist. Max van Egmond has performed and recorded
romantic Lieder of Schubert, Schumann and Fauré, among others, accompanied on
period instruments.
Songs by Gabriel Fauré were accompanied by
Jos van Immerseel on an
Erard piano built in 1897. Schubert's
Winterreise was accompanied by
Penelope Crawford on a fortepiano of
Conrad Graf, built in 1835. He was a teacher at the
Sweelinck Conservatory Amsterdam from 1980 until 1995 and conducted master classes, annually in Mateus, Portugal, and at the Baroque Performance Institute at
Oberlin, Ohio since 1978. One of his students has been
Harry van der Kamp. == Selected recordings ==