Steven Marking—Bass/Baritone
"Baritone Steven Marking was the find of the afternoon.
The young Baritone has metal in his voice quite like the great Met Baritone
Cornell McNeil and his astounding English diction recalls John Charles
Thomas."
—John Paul Keeler (Hudson Valley Newspapers)
The ability to connect with his audience and to be understood are the hallmarks of Steven Marking's performances. He has performed several operatic roles over the past twenty years, including Wotan in Die Walküre, Count Almaviva in The Marriage of Figaro, Escamillo in Carmen, Rigoletto in Rigoletto, Amonasro in Aida, Enrico Ashton in Lucia di Lammamoor, and Michele in Il Tabarro. He has studied the roles of Dutchman in Der Fliegende Höllander, Johanaan in Salome, Orest in Electra. He recently performed Mr Smith in Robert Baksa’s Red Carnations, and Count Carl Magnus in Sondheim’s A Little Night Music. His coaches include the late Thomas Stewart and Walter Taussig, Evelyn Lear, Nico Castel, William Hicks, and Kemal Kahn.
This coming season will include an April 3, 2009 performance of Baron Ochs von Lerchenau in Richard Strauss’s Der Rosenkavalier for Sinfonia da Camera in Champaign, Ill. Mr. Marking will also be performing The Songs of Jerome Kern and Tribute to Frank Sinatra at Hubbard Hall on October 17, 2008.
Marking's recitals include an all-Italian program In Bocca al
Lupo, an all-American song program I've Known Rivers,
and a gospel and spiritual program Then Sings My Soul.
He has produced numerous cabaret programs, including ones dedicated to
Cole Porter, George Gershwin, Rodgers and Hammerstein, Noel Coward, Flanders
and Swann, as well as his Tribute to Frank Sinatra. For
four seasons he has produced A Night of Italian Opera
for The College of Saint Joseph in Rutland, VT. In 1993 he toured northern
Italy, concertizing in Milano, Parma, and Busseto with Elaine and Walfredo
Toscanini.
Mr. Marking's oratorio performances include Elijah in Mendelssohn's
Elijah, Raphael in Haydn's Creation, the baritone
solos in Beethoven's 9th Symphony, Orff's Carmina
Burana, Vaughan Williams Five Mystical Songs
and Fantasia on Christmas Carols, and bass solos in Dvorak's
Stabat Mater, Handel's Messiah, Fauré's
Requiem, John Stainer's Crucifixion,
Bach's B minor Mass and numerous Bach Cantatas.
Steven Marking teaches voice at his home in Hoosick, New York, at The
Cathedral of All Saints in Albany, and at the Young Actors Guild at Rensselaer
Polytechnic Institute in Troy.
In 2003 Marking founded You
Gotta Hear This!, a non-profit company to bring vocal performances
of the highest quality to Hoosick, to enhance the economic vitality of
the community and to enrich the cultural lives of the audience and the
participants.
He participated in the Artist Diploma program at Yale University, holds
a Masters Degree in Vocal Performance from The Peabody Conservatory in
Baltimore, and a Bachelors Degree in Vocal Performance from Viterbo University
in LaCrosse, Wisconsin.