Active as a leading baritone with opera companies and symphony orchestras throughout the country, Mark Owen Davis’ roles have included Rigoletto, Sharpless, Tonio, and Emil DeBecque with Asheville Lyric Opera in recent seasons. While Verdi baritone is his native category, he is equally at home in roles ranging from bass-baritone to the lyric French repertoire, from Broadway to world premieres in recital and concert. Recent soloist oratorio roles include the Verdi Requiem, Elijah, Beethoven’s Ninth, and Carmina Burana. He is the featured vocal soloist with the Paramount Chamber Players, and has performed extensively at Carnegie Hall, and in France, and recorded with the Robert Shaw Festival Singers.
While in demand as a performer, Mr. Davis has principally spent his career as a professor and conductor, serving as Director of Choirs, Voice, and Opera at Marietta College in Ohio and Emory & Henry College in Virginia. As Director of The Masters Voice Studio, he has trained many singers who have earned scholarships to the top-ten conservatories, and have graduated to professional careers in Opera, Broadway, and recording contracts.
Mr. Davis has served as Director of Music Ministries continuously throughout his professional life, including at Parkview UMC in Columbus, OH; First Presbyterian in Marietta, OH; First Presbyterian in Parkersburg, WV; and the Emory UMC in VA, before his appointment in 2006 to the full time position at First Presbyterian Church in Kingsport, TN. Whether in the sanctuary or the concert hall, Mr. Davis sees the ultimate role of Music as uniting the human family in the language of the soul to glorify God in a living encounter. His specialty is the development of the voice--both individually and collectively within the paradigm of the Choir--so attuned and inspired as to become as the voice of Christ.
Mr. Davis holds the B.Mus from the Cleveland Institute of Music; and the M.Mus in Vocal Performance and M.Arts in Vocal Pedagogy at The Ohio State University, where he is a full DMA Candidate. In addition to being sought after as a recitalist, he is also in demand for Master Classes and as a guest conductor and clinician.