Peter's Experience

Peter Mark’s powerful skill set draws from a varied and comprehensive experience in opera. As Founding General and Artistic Director of Virginia Opera he conducted and mentored young singers – many who have become world renowned stars like Renee Fleming, Diana Soviero, Lawrence Brownlee, Frederick Burchinal, Brandon Jovanovich, Bryan Register, Brian Jagde.

*  METROPOLITAN OPERA – performed as chief boy soprano for three seasons – the mid-1950s,  the ”golden years”: with Maestri Mitropoulos, Monteau, Erede, Rudolf, Stiedry, Reiner, Leinsdorf, Cleva, Schippers, stars Tebaldi, Bjoerling, Tucker, Warren, Milanov, Merrill, Albanese, Della Casa, Stevens, Steber, de los Angeles, Del Monaco, Hines, London, Siepi, Verrett, Arroyo, Elias, Amara, Baum, Vinay, Capecchi, McCracken, Gueden, Fenn, Glaz, Guarrera, Rankin, Tozzi, Conley, Thebom, Campora

*  CONCERTMASTER & PRINCIPAL VIOLIST – with Columbia Symphony, Juilliard Orchestra, Lyric Opera of Chicago – collaborating with many great Maestri – Morel, Bartoletti, Derveau, Sanzogno, Cillario, Krips, Jochum; and with star singers Vickers, Kabaivanska, Gobbi, Ghiaurov, Scotto, Corelli, Crespin, Grist, Guelfi, Cossotto, Souliotis, Bumbry, Lear, Berganza, Bruscantini,Wildermann, Weathers, Mittlemann, Kraus, Vinco, Tucker, Gencer, Uppman, Seefried, Stich-Randall

* FULL PROFESSOR OF OPERA & MUSIC-DRAMA, UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA – taught through both Music and Dramatic Art Departments. Lectures on operatic subjects and themes for groups and professional organizations all around the world.

*  GENERAL & ARTISTIC DIRECTOR OF VIRGINIA OPERA FOR 36 YEARS – NOW EMERITUS ARTISTIC DIRECTOR, where he presented, coached and conducted several generations of singers, including: Diana Soviero, Jake Gardner, Frederick Burchinal, Jeannine Altmeyer, Rockwell Blake, Sharon Daniels, Theodore Lambrinos, Barbara Conrad, Jon F. West, Esther Hinds, Lorna Myers, Tonio Di Paolo, Jon Garrison, Bruce Reed, Lili Chookasian, Thomas Hammons, Marc Embree, Gloria Capone, Ashley Putnam, John Aler, Florence Quivar, Kathryn Montgomery, Carlos Serrano, Patricia McCaffrey, Marvis Martin, Sally Wolf, Steven Cole, Kristine Ciesinski, John del Carlo,  Joy Simpson, Denes Striny, Stephanie Friede,  Darren Keith Woods, Cynthis Heyman, Ben Holt, Adria Firestone, Renee Fleming, Victoria Livengood, Allan Glassman, Craig Schulman, Jane Bunnell, Jorge Lopez-Yanez... and more recently Mark Rucker, Wilbur Pauley, Barbara Dever, Sherry Overholt, Lawrence Brownlee, Nmon Ford, Eilana Lappalainen, Lori Phillips, Mary Dunleavy, Audrey Stottler, Franco Pomponi, Susan Neves, Robynne Redmon, Bojan Knezevic, Eric Dillner, Katherine Broderick, Quade Winter, Doug Nagel, Elizabeth Biggs, Jeff Morrissey, Vernon Hartman, Amy Johnson, Brian Jauhiainnen, Sujung Kim, Carter Scott, Phillip Webb, Richard Troxell, Grant Youngblood, Jay Hunter Morris, Yunah Lee, Suzan Hanson, Elizabeth Bishop, Adam Klein, Kelly Cae Hogan, Mary Phillips, Alvy Powell, Fabiana Bravo, Timothy Blevins, Layna Chianakas, Pamela Kucenic, Eric Greene, Rod Nelman, Indira Mahajan, Guido LeBron, Frank Porretta, Randolph Locke, Dinah Bryant, Jane Redding, Monica Yunus, Lawrence Brownlee, Charles Robert Austin, Maria Gavrilova, Michael Hayes, Wei Huang, Tracy Welborn, Mary Ann Steart, Thomas Truhitte, Dan Snyder, Burak Bilgili, Cristina Nassif, Jeffrey Halili, Michael Todd Simpson, Joshua Winograde, Bryan Register, Adam Diegel, David Barron, Jane Dutton, Gustavo Lopez-Manzitti,, Brian Jagde, William Ferguson,  Jeneice Golbourne, Manon Strauss Evrard, Israel Lozano, Christian Van Horn, Ashraf Sewailam, Mary Elizabeth Williams, Fikile Mvinjelwa, Sang-Eun Kim, Aundi Marie Moore, Cody Austin, Brandon Jovanovich.

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Peter Mark served for over 35 years as Founding General, Artistic Director, and Chief Conductor of VIRGINIA OPERA (1975-2010) -- where he is now Emeritus --  a company known for the discovery, development and presentation of major operatic talent in productions of musical and dramatic integrity – singers such as Renee Fleming, Diana Soviero, Frederick Burchinal, Barbara Dever, Brandon Jovanovic, Bryan Register, Brian Jagde, Christian Van Horn and Lawrence Brownlee.
 
 
He has a uniquely comprehensive background and experience in opera – first as chief boy-soprano chorister and soloist of the Metropolitan Opera for three seasons in its glory days in the mid-1950’s (with many performances onstage with opera greats such as Tebaldi, Milanov, Albanese, Steber, Stevens, Tucker, Bjoerling, Del Monaco, Merrill, Warren and Siepi; then as the Concertmaster of the Columbia University Orchestra and Principal Violist of the Juilliard Orchestra and the Chicago Lyric Opera; then as Professor of Music and Drama at University of California at Santa Barbara; and then conducting opera for four decades at the companies he built and ran in Virginia, as well as conducting operas on 5 continents -- NYC, London, Mexico City, Buenos Aires, Sao Paulo, Krakow, Mozambique and Shanghai.
 
 
He now utilizes his broad experience and skill to help singers integrate the finest operatic vocal
and musical traditions into  their repertoire through his regular Masterclasses and private coaching
​now online around the world.