Mark Ross Clark began his directing career as a university director of opera in 1988 - responsible for producing and directing productions and teaching opera workshop classes. As his university career unfolded, more courses in teaching the history of opera and musical theatre were added, as well as teaching beginning and advanced acting and directing. He expanded his opera directing repertoire to include operetta, musical theatre and plays, totalling over 100 works. Clark has experience in his career as Artistic Director of professional regional opera companies (Stockton Opera-CA/Louisiana Opera) as well as guest director in regional opera companies (Roanoke-VA Opera, Cedar Rapids-IA Opera, Festival Opera-Walnut Creek, CA) and international sites (including Opera Bellem in Brazil, Dorset Opera in the UK, National Theatre in Taipei, Taiwan). He also directs in the young artist program: Chicago Summer Opera each year, and was the director of the Astoria Young Artist Program in Oregon for three summers.

Testimonials from cast and crew under Mark’s direction at Chicago Summer Opera:

“I just wanted to take a moment to express my heartfelt thanks for your guidance and support throughout this process. Working with you has been such an inspiring and rewarding experience, and I've learned so much from you.”

- Beatrice Huang, Apprentice Assistant Director (University of Texas at Austin)

“I absolutely loved working with Dr. Clark! The pace he moved at was amazing and he always gave very thoughtful and helpful notes! Being in my first full opera production, he was very caring and made me feel comfortable and a better performer overall!!”

- Aileen Conner

“Working with Dr Clark at the Chicago Summer Opera was a great joy. Every creative decision was backed up by thoughtfulness and intention, allowing rehearsals to run extremely smoothly.”

- David Wang (Northwestern University) 

“This was my first opera with a stage director, I was unsure how it would all work out, and it did. When rehearsals got tense Mark would crack a joke to ease the pressure, I enjoyed that.”

- Jon Dirk Ross

“I really enjoyed the time with Mark’s guidance and patience for all the singers, especially for the singers who have no whole opera experience like me. I really appreciate Mark’s suggestions for the young artists. He gave us a lot of encouragement to pursue our dreams.”

- Juanlin Yang (Lauretta in Gianni Schicchi)

“Working with Dr. Clark has been a true pleasure: the rehearsal environment was always very enjoyable and warm, which I feel is extremely important. Any ideas, questions and concerns were heard, answered and taken into consideration. This was my first time being part of a production that had to be fully staged and ready to be presented in such a short period of time and I won’t lie, I was a little stressed. Once the staging process began, my fears faded away.”

- Daisy Dalit Sigal (Manhattan School of Music)

Gianni Schicchi, D. Bee Photography

Albert Herring, W. Biederman Photography