The Berlin born bass Markus Hollop studied at the Hochschule für Musik in Munich in the singing class of Professor Josef Loibl. While still a student, he was a prizewinner of the international Carl Maria von Weber singing competition, the international singing competition of the Münchener Konzert Gesellschaft and received scholarships from the Deutsche Studienstiftung and the Nürnberger Meistersängerwettbewerb.

Very young he started an international career, which took him to the most important opera houses and festivals in Europe, Asia and the USA, examples being the Bavarian State Opera, the Hamburg State Opera, the State Opera and the Komische Oper Berlin, the Opéra National de Paris, the Royal Opera Covent Garden, the Teatro del Liceu Barcelona, ​​the Grand Théâtre de Genève, the opera houses in Turin, Rome, Bologna, Palermo and Naples, the Japanese operas Nomori and Nikikai (Tokyo and Yokohama), the Opera Pacific (Los Angeles) , the Salzburg Easter Festival, the Edinburgh Festival, the Festival de Radio France and the Ravenna Festival.

He has worked with conductors such as Claudio Abbado, John Eliot Gardiner, Zubin Mehta, Seiji Ozawa, Kent Nagano, Wolfgang Sawallisch, Sebastian Weigle, James Conlon, John Eliot Gardener and sang in productions by the directors Andreas Homoki, Robert Carsen, Peter Konwitschny, Peter Stein, Damiano Michieletto, Luc Bondy, Philippe Arlaud and many more.

He sings most roles in the German, French and Italian repertoire, but the focus of his work is mostly on roles in the German romantic repertoire, especially by the composers Richard Wagner and Richard Strauss. In addition to that contemporary music is a particular concern for him since his debut at the 1st Munich Biennale for Modern Music Theater in 1988, aged only 21 years.

For the recording of Busoni's "Doktor Faust" under the baton of Kent Nagano, he received a 2001 Grammophone Award ("Grammy") in the "Best Opera Recording" category.

Since the 2016/17 season, alongside his work as a singer, Markus Hollop works as “Chargé de production artistique et casting” at the Grand Théâtre de Genève.