Margiono (real name Charlotte Marie-Louise Heijdemann) was born in Amsterdam and studied at the Arnhem conservatoire with Aafje Heynis.
She was originally a Mozart specialist, but gradually added a handful of heavier operas by Beethoven, Carl Maria von Weber, Verdi, Smetana, Puccini and Richard Strauss to her repertoire.
She returned to Mozart for the controversial 2006-07 Netherlands Opera Da Ponte trilogy by Jossi Wieler and Sergio Morabito as Marcellina (Le nozze di Figaro), and Donna Elvira (Don Giovanni).
Margiono is famous for her interpretation of the Four Last Songs by Richard Strauss, which she recorded in 1993 with the Netherlands Radio Philharmonic Orchestra under Edo de Waart (Brilliant Classics).
In December 2008 the Hogeschool voor de Kunsten Utrecht appointed Charlotte Margiono as a lecturer in "Communicating Music."