Mark Elliott
Voice
Teaching artist in Music, Mark Elliott (bass) has been on the faculty of Coe College since 1998. He received his formal music training with the Royal Schools of Church Music and the Royal College of Music, before embarking on a successful operatic and oratorio singing career in Europe.
Winning first prize in the Tamworth International Singing Competition, Tamworth England, afforded Mr. Elliott the opportunity to study with the renowned Wagnerian bass, Hans Hotter in Munich. This led to an invitation to audition for the Wagner Festival in Bayreuth where, for five seasons, Mr. Elliott joined the guest artist roster and experienced working with such conductors as Daniel Barenboim, James Levine, Sir Georg Solti and Horst Stein.
His almost twenty year solo career in Germany and Czechoslovakia included performances with the State Theaters in Kassel, Freiburg, Brandenburg, Heidelberg, Karlovy Vary, Cheb and Marianske Laszny. He also performed with the Czech Philharmonic Orchestra for three seasons at the Bad Hersfelder Festival in productions of Richard Strauß's "Salome" and Verdi's "Nabucco". His most prolific roles included the Mozart repertoire of "Sarastro" in "The Magic Flute" (a role which he repeated in 2004 with the City Opera Company of the Quad Cities), "Bartolo" in "The Marriage of Figaro" and "Commendatore" in "Don Giovanni" as well as "Don Basilio" in Rossini's "The Barber of Seville", "Falstaff" in Nicolai's "The Merry Wives of Windsor", "Phillippo" in Verdi's "Don Carlo" and "Sparafucile" in Verdi's "Rigoletto" (repeated with the Cedar Rapids Opera Company in 2001).
Since coming to Eastern Iowa in 1998 with his American-born wife of 20 years, he served as founding Artistic Director of the City Opera Company of the Quad Cities (2002-2004). He has adjudicated forthe National Association of Teachers of Singing andthe Iowa Music Educators Association, and has been a popular presenter for Coe's Thursday Forum and Cedar Rapids Opera Theatre.
Mr. Elliott, a member of NATS,maintains large private studios in Cedar Rapids and Davenport. In Novemberhe will serve as the official judge for Western Illinois University's 2007 concerto and aria competition.
