MONROE, LA, November 02, 2020 /24-7PressRelease/ -- Dr. Mark Ross Clark has been included in Marquis Who's Who. As in all Marquis Who's Who biographical volumes, individuals profiled are selected on the basis of current reference value. Factors such as position, noteworthy accomplishments, visibility, and prominence in a field are all taken into account during the selection process.
With more than four decades of musical and theatrical experience to his credit, Dr. Clark has shown considerable enthusiasm for music and theatrical performance from a young age. Enthralled with the arts of singing, acting and dancing, he desired to pursue a career first as a performer, and then apply the experience as an educator. Subsequently, he resolved to pursue a higher education in teaching music and theatre.
Prior to his success, Dr. Clark obtained a diploma from Indiana University in voice performance and a masters degree in Vocal Pedagogy, and the Universität Mozarteum Salzburg Sommer Akademie in German Lieder. His teaching/directing mentors were Wesley Balk and Giorgio Tozzi. After garnering expertise in his field of performance for a number of years in the U.S. and abroad, including five years as soloist with the touring Roger Wagner Chorale and three years singing with the German Stadttheater in Giessen, he earned a Doctor of Musical Arts in opera production, a hybrid degree requiring expertise in opera history and directing; art history, and theatre arts from the University of Washington in Seattle in 1996. Likewise, he is certified by Alexander Technique International in the Alexander Technique, which he employs while instructing his students in movement.
Dr. Clark served as the director of opera and lead educator for graduate and undergraduate opera workshops at the University of the Pacific, the University of Washington, as well as Indiana University Bloomington, between 1988 and 2006. Twelve of his former students have sung or are singing at the Metropolitan Opera, and eleven students he has mentored as graduate students are directing and/or lead their own opera programs at U.S. universities. Currently, he is a professor of Music and Theatre, and directs operas and musical productions at the University of Louisiana at Monroe. For over twenty years Dr. Clark has presented workshops at universities and for NATS conventions throughout the country, and in Korea, Mexico, Germany, England, and in Italy. In addition, he currently facilitates virtual seminars within these areas of study at Texas Tech University, Loyola University, Brigham Young University, and many other universities. Dr. Clark is also an award winning director, having directed in England, Brazil, and Taiwan, as well as for regional opera companies and university opera programs in the U.S.
Throughout his tenure, Dr. Clark has traveled the globe and educated countless students in the art of "Singergetics", a study that combines and integrates a number of exercises which synthesize vocal training, dancing and acting that he details in his book, "Singing, Acting and Movement in Opera." Another important contribution to the profession is his second book, "A Guide to the Opera Repertoire," and his first two books are published by Indiana University Press. His third book is "The Broadway Song," which catalogues and analyzes over 100 traditional and more recent musical theatre songs, with interviews about the songs with well known composers and lyricists, directors, and singer-actors. This book was published by Oxford University Press. His current book, recently completed, is about the musicals composed by Harvey Schmidt and Tom Jones, the team that brought The Fantasticks, 110 in the Shade, and I Do! I Do! to Broadway and Off-Broadway.
As a testament to his proficiencies, he previously sang background for The Carpenters, and was featured in a concert with Ethel Merman at the Hollywood Bowl. Dr. Clark has also appeared with his acting class at the University of Louisiana in the last season of the television program "Duck Dynasty" teaching Willie Robertson's daughter Sadie in acting, as well as Uncle Sy.
Outside of his professional endeavors, Dr. Clark is the director and producer of a local opera company, The Louisiana Opera, bringing professional singers to the region. With respect to his philanthropic efforts, he volunteers as a mentor for the Music-Mind-Spirit Foundation from London, and locally as a singer, director, and producer of programs and musical instruction for the community.
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Since 1899, when A. N. Marquis printed the First Edition of Who's Who in America®, Marquis Who's Who® has chronicled the lives of the most accomplished individuals and innovators from every significant field of endeavor, including politics, business, medicine, law, education, art, religion and entertainment. Today, Who's Who in America® remains an essential biographical source for thousands of researchers, journalists, librarians and executive search firms around the world. Marquis® now publishes many Who's Who titles, including Who's Who in America®, Who's Who in the World®, Who's Who in American Law®, Who's Who in Medicine and Healthcare®, Who's Who in Science and Engineering®, and Who's Who in Asia®. Marquis® publications may be visited at the official Marquis Who's Who® website at www.marquiswhoswho.com.
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