Mark Stone is an English helden baritone, acclaimed for his performances of Wagnerian roles, such as Alberich in Das Rheingold and Siegfried at Longborough Festival Opera, Wotan in Die Walküre for Trondheim Symfoniorkester, and Gunther in Götterdämmerung at the Grand Théâtre de Genève. He works extensively in Germany (Hamburgische Staatsoper, Deutsche Oper Berlin, Staatsoper Hannover) and the USA (Santa Fe Opera, Opera Philadelphia) where he is also renowned for his performances of modern works such as the title role in Nixon in China and the world premiere of Huang Ruo’s M. Butterfly.
This season sees Mark make his Canadian Opera Company debut singing Capulet in Gounod’s Roméo et Juliette and his debut at Opéra national de Lorraine singing Ferryman in a new co-production of Britten’s Curlew River with Opéra de Rennes. Mark will also join the San Diego Symphony for their season closing with concert performances of Bartók’s Bluebeard’s Castle conducted by Rafael Payare. In the Summer of 2025, Mark will give a recital of Winterreise at the Buxton International Festival.
Mark’s highlights from last season include the title role of Der fliegende Holländer for Trondheim Symfoniorkester and Klingsor in Parsifal at the Hamburgische Staatsoper. On the concert platform, Mark joined Carolyn Kuan and the BBC Singers and BBC Symphony Orchestra for a concert performance of Ruo’s M. Butterfly and sang Sir George Benjamin’s Written on Skin with the Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia. Other notable engagements include il Mostro Venere e Adone conducted by Kent Nagano at the Hamburische Staatsoper and The Protector in George Benjamin’s Written on Skin under Marc Albrecht at the Deutsche Oper. He also sang the latter with the Finnish Radio Symphony Orchestra conducted by Sir George Benjamin himself and returned to Longborough Festival Opera to sing his first complete Ring Cycle as Alberich. On the concert platform Mark’s sang Bruckner’s Third Mass with the Royal Northern Sinfonia and Dinis Sousa, Sea Symphony with the National Symphony Orchestra of Ireland and Leonard Slatkin and Carmina Burana with the Orchestre de Paris and Andrés Orozco-Estrada.
Noteworthy opera also includes the title role of Wozzeck for Grand Théâtre de Genève, his acclaimed role debut as Wotan Die Walküre for Grimeborn, for which he was nominated for an Offie Award for best performance in an opera, Sharpless Madame Butterfly for Welsh National Opera, White Knight Alice's Adventures Underground at the Royal Opera House, Balstrode Peter Grimes at Queensland Opera and the King in George Benjamin’s Lessons in Love and Violence at the Mariisnky Theatre.
A distinguished concert artist, Mark is an acclaimed exponent of new music. A piece with which he is synonymous is Thomas Ades’ Totentanz, having sung this with the Wiener Philharmoniker and Leipzig Gewandhausorchester conducted by the composer, the Swedish Radio Symphony, Orchestre de Paris, New York Philharmonic, Danish National Symphony, and Finnish Radio Symphony. Mark has also sung Auerbach’s Requiem with Vladimir Jurowski and the Dresden Staatskapelle, Gerald Barry’s Beethoven with the Britten Sinfonia and West Side Story with the Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia conducted by Sir Antonio Pappano.
His recordings include Eugene Onegin (extracts) with Pappano (EMI), Les Troyens with Sir Colin Davis (LSO Live), Billy Budd with the LSO and Harding (Virgin / EMI); Bellini’s La Straniera with the LPO and Parry (Opera Rara) and Mozart arias with the Classical Opera Company (Sony BMG). His solo recital discs - Quilter songs (Sony BMG), ‘English Love’, the complete Butterworth Songbook and `the complete Delius Songbook (Stone Records) – have all received widespread praise. In November 2020 Mark was nominated for a Grammy Award for his recording of Thomas Ades’ Totentanz with the Boston Symphony Orchestra.
Mark was born in London and studied Mathematics at King's College Cambridge, and singing at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama. In 1998 he was awarded the Decca Prize at the Kathleen Ferrier Awards.