Mark Stone

Mark Stone was born in London and studied mathematics at King's College, Cambridge, and singing at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama. In 1998 he was awarded the Decca Prize at the Kathleen Ferrier Awards.

A rising star on the operatic stage, he was nominated in the category of ‘Breakthrough Artists’ in the 2005 South Bank Show Awards. His powerful portrayal of Don Giovanni at the English National Opera was hailed in The Times as ‘brilliant', describing Stone as 'a bundle of vicious sexual energy with charm and menace to spare’.

Other roles at ENO include Count Almaviva (Le nozze di Figaro), Guglielmo (Così fan tutte), Marcello (La bohème), Enrico (Lucia di Lammermoor), Rossini's Figaro, Chou En-lai (Nixon in China) and Yamadori in Minghella's production of 'Madam Butterfly'. At the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden he has sung Sonora (La Fanciulla del West) and Valvert (Cyrano de Bergerac). He has sung the title role in 'Eugene Onegin' at Glyndebourne and Escamillo (Carmen), Marcello and Demetrius (A Midsummer Night’s Dream) at Opera North. In the U.S. he has sung Ford (Falstaff) for Philadelphia Opera and Guglielmo in Santa Fe.

His plans include a return to Covent Garden, his role debuts as Papageno (Die Zauberflöte) and Gianni Schicchi for Philadelphia Opera, Belcore (L'Elisir d'Amore) for the WNO and Silvio (I Pagliacci) for the ENO.

In concert, recent engagements have included appearances with the London Symphony Orchestra with Harding and Sir Colin Davis; the Hallé Orchestra with Elder; the Gabrieli Consort with McCreesh and the Academy of Ancient Music with Paul Daniel. This season he will sing Bach’s ‘Mass in B minor’ with the Bamberger Symphoniker and Norrington; the role of Sebastian in Thomas Adès’ ‘The Tempest’ at the Amsterdam Concertgebouw with Markus Stenz and he will give the German premiere of James MacMillan’s ‘St John Passion’ with the Rundfunk Sinfonieorchester Berlin.

His first recital disc - volume one of the complete Quilter edition – has recently been released to critical acclaim by Sony BMG.

Photo: Robert Workman.