Hatziano made her professional operatic debut at the National Opera of Greece at the age of 23 singing Eboli in Don Carlos. She debuted on the international stage at the Opera Company of Boston singing Suzuki in Madama Butterfly, Neris in Medée, Amneris in Aida and Azucena in Il Trovatore.

She achieved international recognition in 2003 when she stepped in at the last minute to sing the gargantuan role of Didon in Les Troyens in concert performances with the London Symphony Orchestra and Sir Colin Davis. “On this evening a star was surely born” Opera Magazine.

She has been singing her core dramatic mezzo repertoire of Dalila, Amneris, Eboli, Azucena, Didon, Marguerite, Charlotte, Santuzza and Judith with opera houses including the Liceu in Barcelona, Teatro Real in Madrid, Teatro Colón in Buenos Aires, Covent Garden, Teatro alla Scala, Salzburg Festival, San Francisco Opera, Baltimore Opera, Opera Company of Boston, Bayerische Staatsoper, Trieste, Deutsche Staatsoper, New Israeli Opera, Teatro Sao Carlos in Lisbon, Norwegian Opera, the Festival de Radio France in Montpelier and Maggio Musicale Fiorentino.

With her core concert repertoire of Verdi, Chausson, Ravel, Berlioz, Beethoven and Mahler, she is appearing with virtually every major symphony orchestra, including the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, the Vienna Philharmonic, the Cleveland Orchestra, the Los Angeles Philharmonic, the Boston Symphony Orchestra, the New York Philharmonic, the London Symphony Orchestra, Orchestre de Paris, the BBC Symphony Orchestra, BBC Symphony Orchestra of Wales, Mozarteum Salzburg Orchestra, Royal Philharmonic, Philharmonia Orchestra, and Oslo Philharmonic.

Markella Hatziano’s discography includes the Verdi Requiem with the London Symphony Orchestra: Gramophone Magazine “The best of the quartet is undoubtedly Hatziano who, in her first major recording, fulfills all the hopes one has for her, singing with firm tone, warm, well-schooled style, no mannerisms – her ‘Liber Scriptus’ cannot be faulted”.

Her recording of the Macbeth of Ernst Bloch with the Orchestre de Montpelier was awarded the Grand Prix de l’Académia Charles Cros.

She collaborates with great conductors including, Zubin Mehta, Mariss Jansons, Bernard Haitink, Christoph von Dóhnanyi, Seiji Ozawa, Kent Nagano, Sir Colin Davis, Esa-Pekka Salonen, Claudio Scimone, Jacques Delacote, Michel Gielen, Michel Plasson, Andrew Davis, and Semyon Bychkov.