Mark Oswald

At 23, Mark Oswald was one of the youngest male singers to debut in a leading role in the history of the Metropolitan Opera history.

Mark has sung with all of the great singers of the golden era, including Luciano Pavarotti and Placido Domingo and has chosen teaching over his famed singing career (of a dozen years) after having amassed several hundred performances as a baritone (and tenor) at the major opera houses of the world in every traditonal role in his category. He is considered by his Metropolitan Opera colleagues as one of the finest technical singers with whom they work.

Known for his technical prowess and musicality as a leading lyric baritone for 12 years at the Metropolitan Opera, he has sung frequently under James Levine and today’s leading conductors. Mr. Oswald has worked in many of the leading opera houses of the world, including the Vienna State Opera, Hamburg, San Francisco, St. Louis, San Diego, Miami, and the Dallas Opera, to name a few. He has sung alongside nearly every leading singer of the world today in these acclaimed theaters.

He gained a wide variety of experience at an early age as one of the youngest male singers in history to debut at the Metropolitan in a leading role, with nearly 500 performances, including extensive concert experience and an impressive discography. Among his recordings are Carmina Burana with the Montreal Symphony, the title role of Billy Budd on a live recording from Venice, and An American Requiem by Richard Danielpour. He also took part in a recent Virgil Thomson disc, and Holiday at Pops with Frederica von Stade and the Boston Pops, televised on PBS. Mr. Oswald is widely known for his Figaro in Il Barbiere di Siviglia, his Silvio in I Pagliacci, and his Papageno in Die Zauberflöte. He sang with Alfredo Kraus in the late tenor’s final L’elisir d’amore at the Metropolitan. He sang his first performance of the same opera with Luciano Pavarotti, Kathleen Battle, and Maestro Levine and was showcased as a singer on the James Levine Gala in the late 90s.