Described by Germany’s leading opera magazine Das Opernglas as “a strong, rich and warm-colored voice with assured style…”, Mark Schnaible continues to impress audiences both in the United States and abroad with his Bassbaritone voice and dramatic intensity. He recently received outstanding recognition for his interpretation of Biterolf in the new Robert Carsen production of Tannhäuser conducted by Seiji Ozawa at the Tokyo Opera Nomori Festival.
Recent appearances include Leporello with Boston Baroque, under Martin Pearlman where the Boston Globe stated “Mark Schnaible was vocally elegant and comically astute..”, as a soloist with the Saito Kinen Festival under Ozawa, Mephistofeles in Shreveport Opera’s Faust, the Bass soloist in Haydn’s The Creation with the Jerusalem Symphony under David Stern as well as the world premiere of the newly edited Bluebeard’s Castle with the Utah Symphony conducted by Keith Lockhart.
A native of Iowa, Mark Schnaible lived for nearly ten years in Europe. He is a past winner of the prestigious Marseille International Opera Competition and subsequently has appeared often in France; twice at the Choregies d’Orange Festival under Bertrand de Billy in La Traviata and in Carmen under Michel Plasson, as Mozart’s Figaro with Opera d’Avignon, Metz Opera and the Grand Theatre de Tours as well as touring Haydn’s The Seasons with the Poitou-Charentes Orchestre throughout France.
Other performance credits include numerous performances of Escamillo including a broadcast performance with the Saarland Radio Symphony Orchestra under Michael Stern, the four villains in Les Contes d’Hoffmann, Don Giovanni, Traveler in Death in Venice, Orest in Elektra with Theater Lübeck, Colline with Kiel Opera as well as the Huntsman in Rusalka with Christoph Eschenbach at the Schleswig-Holstein Music Festival.
He is equally at home with the concert repertoire having sung Elijah and St Paul of Mendelssohn, the Requiems of Durufle, Faure, Mozart, Brahms and Verdi, Handel’s Messiah, Schoenberg’s Gurrelieder, the Passions and B minor Mass of Bach, Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony as well as The Creation and The Seasons of Haydn. Both European and American Press have recognized the lyric warmth of Mr. Schnaible’s Bassbaritone voice as well as praised his sensitive musicality.