Mariká van der Meer graduated in 1988 at the Royal Conservatory in The Hague, the Netherlands. She was awarded a scholarship to study with Daniel Ferro, Penelope Jensen and Genevieve McGiffert in the U.S., after which she studied with Eva Blahová in Bratislava, Jard van Nes, Erna Spoorenberg and Wilma Driessen in the Netherlands.
First establishing herself in the Baroque world, she guested with René Jacobs, Ton Koopman and Sigiswald Kuijcken, touring with many Baroque Ensembles through Germany, France, Belgium and the U.S.A.
Being a fine Lieder Interpreter she also toured Germany with several Schubert and Schumann recitals. From 1990 she started to focus more on Opera and was guesting as the lead Soprano in several Opera Houses: Lübeck, Coburg, Münster, Freiburg, Würzburg, Bautzen, Halberstadt, Bamberg, Leipzig, as well as Utrecht, Rotterdam and Amsterdam theatres.
As Mariká is a very expressive singer, she was asked to create the Title role in “Sheherazade”, written by Ernst Toch, which had its World premiere in 1995 in the theatre of Bautzen (Germany). Her performance was hailed in Opern Welt and Opera: “ Eine Vokale Sternstunde”. Even the “New Yorker” wrote an article about this performance!
Other roles performed on stage include; Frasquita, Michaela (Carmen), Marzelline (Fidelio), Undine (Undine), Gilda (Rigoletto), Sandrina (La Finta Giardieniera), Zerlina (Don Giovanni), Blonde (Entführung), Masha, Chloe (Queen of Spades), Emmy (Der Vampyr), Mariza (Grafin Mariza), Hanna (Lustige Witwe), Silva (CsardasFürstin), Adele, Rosalinde (Fledermaus), Angele (Graf von Luxemburg), Viktoria (Viktoria u.Ihr Husar) a.o. in the Theatre of Leipzig, Coburg, Lübeck, Bautzen, Gera, Halberstadt , Dresden.
In 1997 Mariká moved to Great Britain and became Musical Director of “Commedia dell’Arte”, a touring Operetta Company founded by André Romijn and Mariká van der Meer. The aim of this company was to bring back the tradition of Operetta. The artistic board of musical advisers consisted of Richard Bonynge, Wilma Driessen, Katalin Bogyay and Nicolai Gedda.
In this period Mariká started performing Orchestral Songs, for example the ”Vier Letzte Lieder” from R. Strauss, first performed with Royal Northern Symphonia in 2002 and again in 2010 with The Harrogate Symphony Orchestra for which she received raving reviews.
Mariká has sang under the baton of Ton Koopman, Jos van Veldhoven, Daniel Reuss, Vincent de Kort, René Jacobs , Karel Nosek, Dieter Kempe, as well as Roland Seiffarth, GMD Musikalische Komodie Leipzig, Volker Münch, Staatsoperette Dresden and Ross Pople, London Festival Orchestra amongst others.
From 1998 Mariká van der Meer started offering vocal teaching and private tuition. Mariká’s students frequently attend festivals and competitions, achieving high results, for example entrees to the “National Youth Choir” England; finalists and nominations for “the BBC Chorister of the year” and the Children’s Choir of “Opera North” in Leeds.
Over the years Mariká has directed choirs, like the Clydebank District Choir in Scotland, as well as working with the “National Youth Choir” of Scotland on many occasions. Mariká was also a highly appreciated member of the music department at Belmont Grosvenor School Harrogate and Queen Mary’s School Thirsk (North Yorkshire) where she worked closely together with the Director of Music preparing many performances, such as Stabat Mater (Pergolesi), Dido and Aeneas (Purcell) and Gloria (Vivaldi).
After moving to Tuscany she now works closely with Bruno Caproni (Baritone) and Julian Evans (Piano) organising concerts and masterclasses in the picturesque city of Barga (near Lucca) as well as organising Kodály courses for young children.