About:

Mark Rucker, baritone, serves as professor of voice at MSU's College of Music.

From the time of his debut as Renato in Un Ballo in Maschera with Luciano Pavarotti for the Opera Company of Philadelphia, the American baritone has been in demand in opera houses and on concert stages throughout the world. In addition to an active performing career, he has been the Administrative Director for the Martina Arroyo Foundation’s celebrated Young Artist Program, Prelude to Performance, since its inception in 2005 and Artistic Director since 2015.

Rucker made his Metropolitan Opera debut as Amonasro in Aida and has since been heard at the Met as Don Carlo in La Forza del Destino, Tonio in I Pagliacci, and as Rigoletto for the Met in the Parks and continues to be part of the Met roster. He sang the major baritone roles in Rigoletto, Macbeth, Nabucco, Un Ballo in Maschera, La Traviata, Stiffelio, Aida, Il Trovatore, Cavalleria Rusticana/I Pagliacci, Samson et Dalila and Die Fliegende Holländer for companies such as: Arena di Verona, Wiener Staatsoper, Staatsoper Unter den Linden, Teatro Comunale, Bologna, Netherlands Opera, Greek National Opera, Opéra de Wallonie, Bregenz, Savonlinna and Santander, New York City Opera, San Diego, Florida Grand, L’Opera Montreal and numerous other North American companies. He has worked with celebrated maestri, including, Richard Bonynge, Riccardo Chailly, Fabio Luisi, Daniele Gatti, Carlo Rizzi, Gianandrea Noseda, Bruno Campanella, Willie Anthony Waters, Robert Lyall, James Meena and Paolo Arrivabeni.

Rucker made his Carnegie Hall debut to great acclaim as Don Carlo in La Forza del Destino. His other concert credits include Linda di Chamounix and Jerusalem with the Concertgebouw, and Rigoletto with the Israel and Rotterdam Philharmonics.

2017 he sang Jack Rance in Fanciulla del West for Opera Colorado. Last season, he sang Balshazzar's Feast for the Flint Symphony, Elijah for MSU, Amonasro in Aida for Teatro Colon, Buenos Aires, and Paolo in Simon Boccanegra for Royal Opera House Covent Garden. In 2019, he was baritone soloist in Dmitri Shostakovich's Symphony No. 13 in B-flat minor (Babi Yar) for MSU in both Cobb Great Hall, Wharton Center in East Lansing and Orchestra Hall in Detroit with MSU Symphony Orchestra and Choirs. He recently sang the role of Germont in Verdi’s La Traviata for Opera Grand Rapids. Rucker will sing the title role of Macbeth for Opera Tampa and Opera Carolina.

Recordings include Mark Rucker Sings Lena Mclin's Songs for Voice and Piano; Amonasro in Aida for Naxos and Cambro in Opera Ebony's recording of Fosca by A. Carlos Gomes.

For more information, critical acclaim and vocal excerpts visit his website.