Judith Mok

Born in Bergen in the Netherlands.

After Graduating at the Royal Conservatory in the Hague at a very young age, Judith Mok won French and Dutch State Grants to study in Paris and Vienna under Christa Ludwig and her mother Eugenia. In Paris she studied French repertoire with Pierre Bernac and Noemie Perugia. She participated in master classes for contemporary music by Cathy Berberian, John Cage, Karl Heinz Stockhausen and Dorothy Dorrow and was allowed to work on the 200 Motels project with Frank Zappa in Amsterdam. She was also chosen for master classes by Elisabeth Schwarzkopf. Prizes followed at the international vocalist competitions in Den Bosch and Barcelona.

Her lieder, oratorio and opera repertoire led to appearances at numerous festivals including Salzburg, Edinburgh, Paris and the Holland Festival. She has worked in North and South America and in almost every country in Europe, having sung with orchestras such as London Sinfonietta, the Netherlands Philharmonic, de Nederlands Blazers Ensemble, the Mozart Players, the Freiburgerbarock and Amsterdam Baroque, and the Vienna Symphony in concert halls such as the Concertgebouw, Gewandhaus Leipzig, Queen Elisabeth Hall, Theatre du Chatelet and the Bastille, Teatro Colon Buenos Aires.

She has performed in operas by Mozart, Philidor, Handel, Puccini, Richard Strauss and Wagner while working with conductors such as Edo de Waart, Ed Spanjaard, Hartmut Haennchen, M.Soustrot, and Roy Goodman. N. Harnoncourt, JC Malgoir. Having dedicated part of her career to contemporary music, composers such as Louis Andriessen, Gerardo Gandini, Bob Zimmerman, Boudewijn Tarenskeen and Jeff Hamburg have written works for her which have been recorded on CD. She was also chosen by the Oscar winning Chinese composer Tan Dun to perform his works in several countries. She has worked with contemporary music ensembles like the Nieuw Ensemble, and l’ensemble Contrechamps in Geneva.

She sang the opening of the Musica Festival in Strasbourg (Il Canto Sospeso by Luigi Nono); in addition to creating her own a capella recital. For which she was praised by the Monde as being a unique combination of Cathy Berberian and Elisabeth Schwarzkopf in her own style. Irish composer Elaine Agnew wrote a piece ‘Snow hole’ based on a poem by Michael Longley for her and the Irish Chamber Orchestra which was performed at the National Concert Hall, Dublin, where she also performed in the Millennium Celebrations of Handel’s Messiah.

She appeared for the New York open air concerts singing excerpts of …

Puccini’s opera Turandot..

Her love for chamber music led to her singing rare classical duos composed by Brahms, Dvorak, Debussy, Saint Seans and many other classical composers, with the leading Argentine mezzo-soprano Susanna Moncayo and the pianist Fernando Perez. Together they have toured in Europe and the Americas. They have recorded two CDs of this unique repertoire. Their second cd”otro cantar” recorded by Universal was awarded a ‘best cd of the month’ in Europe by the magazine ‘Luister‘.

They were also invited to give a gala concert in the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam as a wedding present for the Dutch crown prince Willem Alexander and his wife Maxima. Their tour combined with the Trio Argentino has been hailed as a major musical event.

In the years she has been based in Ireland, where her vocal skills have been widely appreciated by press and public alike.

Judith Mok has been invited together with her husband author Michael O’Loughlin to create a Molly Bloom show by the Rejoyce Foundation Her show accompanied by amongst others the pianist Dearbhla Collins has been performed many times in Ireland and abroad as far as New Delhi in India. Judith’s strong interest in contemporary music in all its forms led to her collaborating with Rock bands such as the Irish band the Republic of Loose, The Dubliners and a cameo appearance in a radio show with Bono .. She has made appearances at the festivals of Electric Picnic, Flat lakes Festival, and the Galway Arts festival. She has worked and toured extensively in Ireland, and created the event of a week of Culture from Islamic countries with the Temple Bar properties. Recently she has founded a group called the Judith Hamsa Sephardic Ensemble with the outstanding Irish soloists, improvising on Sephardic musical themes as well as other composers inspired by this idiom. This led to concerts in the National Gallery, Vicarstreet, the Beckett Theatre and the Deaf festival in Ireland as well as appearances on RTE 1 television ‘The View’ and the Arts Show on Monday with Vincent Woods RTE 1 Radio. The group performed in Paris at the Centre Culturel Irlandais to great acclaim and recently in Istanbul for European Cultural Capital 2010 and Yale Week. They were filmed by NDR for a Turkish documentary on Istanbul Cultural Capital.

Tours in the USA are planned as well as television appearances….

 As part of the Electric Picnic festival 2010 Judith Mok will be launching her program ‘Poetry Rocks’ in which she will introduce major rock stars like Gil Scott Heron, Brian Ferry, Mick Pyro who will read poems that inspired them to write their songs and Judith will in reverse sing the songs accompanied by Shane Booth on guitars, that inspired her to write her most recent book of poetry. This program will be traveling to various festivals with different guests.

Judith Mok has made much television and radio recordings, for BBC, NDR, NOS, FRANCE MUSIQUE, FR3, RTE. She has sung and acted in several feature films, including the Award-winning Goodnight Vienna!

Judith Mok received a grant in 2003, and a Bursary in 2008 from the Arts Council.
 

In 2010 Judith Mok received a grant for appearances in Paris and Istanbul from Culture Ireland.