Mark Steven Doss African American bass-baritone Date of Birth: 02.07.1957 Country: USA

Biography of Mark Steven Doss

Mark Steven Doss, an Afro-American bass-baritone, was born on July 2, 1957, in Cleveland, Ohio. He attended East Technical High School, where he not only participated in the school sports team but also joined the choir and theater club. He even took part in a school production of the popular musical "Godspell."

After graduating from high school and completing a summer preparatory program in performing arts, Mark decided to pursue his lifelong dream of becoming a Catholic priest. He enrolled in Saint Joseph's College Seminary in Rensselaer, Indiana. In college, Doss continued his music studies and performed in concerts and productions of the student musical theater. After two years, he left the seminary and became a secular student, earning a bachelor's degree in music and sociology.

Following his college education, Doss pursued a master's program at the Indiana University's School of Music from 1980 to 1983. There, he studied vocal performance under the guidance of Walter Cassel, a renowned American operatic baritone, actor, and educator, and Italian bass Nicola Rossi-Lemeni. Doss's first opera performance was the role of Khan Konchak in Borodin's "Prince Igor" at the Indiana University Musical Theatre. Throughout his time at the university, Doss portrayed a total of six roles, including the role of Mephistopheles in "Faust," which he would go on to perform multiple times in his career.

After an internship at the Santa Fe Opera in 1983, where he worked with Portuguese tenor Nico Castel, Thomas Stuart, Martin Katz, and John Fiore, Doss became a member of the Chicago's Lyric Opera Center for American Artists. In January 1986, he joined the Metropolitan Opera in New York City. Since then, Doss has performed in numerous leading opera houses around the world, including the Lyric Opera of Chicago, the Canadian Opera Company, the San Francisco Opera, the Théâtre de la Monnaie in Brussels, the Deutsche Oper Berlin, the Theatre Royal, Covent Garden, Teatro La Fenice in Venice, Teatro Comunale di Firenze, Oper Frankfurt, New York City Opera, Staatsoper Berlin, and La Scala.

Doss's repertoire includes major roles such as the title role in Boito's "Mefistofele," Escamillo in "Carmen," Mephistopheles in "Faust," Zaccaria in "Nabucco," Leporello in "Don Giovanni," Raimondo in "Lucia di Lammermoor," High Priest of Dagon in "Samson et Dalila," Jaroslav Prus in "The Makropulos Case," Jochanaan in "Salome," Amonasro in "Aida," Mustafa in "L'Italiana in Algeri," Thoas in "Iphigénie en Tauride," Alidoro in "La Cenerentola," Argante in "Rinaldo," Scarpia in "Tosca," and many others.

From 1995 to 1997, Doss taught vocal performance at Michigan State University, but he had to leave the position due to the demands of his performing schedule. He continues to conduct masterclasses and works with young artists and interns of professional opera companies.