Mark Campbell

Mark Campbell is a New York-based librettist and lyricist whose operas have received both a Pulitzer Prize in Music and a GRAMMY Award. Mark began writing for the stage as a musical theatre lyricist, but turned to libretto-writing after he premiered Volpone, his first full-length opera in 2004 at Wolf Trap Opera Company.

Mark has written 40 opera librettos, lyrics for 7 musicals and text for 6 song cycles and 4 oratorios. His best-known works are Silent Night, The Shining, The (R)evolution of Steve Jobs, As One, Later the Same Evening, Stonewall, Elizabeth Cree and the musical Songs from an Unmade Bed. His operas have been produced by most of the prominent opera companies in the U.S., including Atlanta Opera, Arizona Opera, Austin Opera, Boston Lyric Opera, Central City Opera, Chicago Opera Theatre, Cincinnati Opera, Des Moines Metro Opera, Ft. Worth Opera, Houston Grand Opera, Hawaii Opera Theatre, Lyric Opera of Kansas City, Michigan Opera Theatre, Minnesota Opera, New Orleans Opera, New York City Opera, Opera Colorado, Opera Memphis, Opera Parallèle, Opera Philadelphia, Pensacola Opera, Pittsburgh Opera, Portland Opera, San Diego Opera, San Francisco Opera, Santa Fe Opera, Seattle Opera, Urban Arias, Utah Opera, Virginia Opera, Washington National Opera and West Edge Opera.

As an educator, Mark has established libretto-writing programs at the American Opera Project, Washington National Opera's American Opera Initiative, American Lyric Theatre and the University of Colorado's New Opera Workshop. In 2022, he created the Campbell Opera Librettist Prize, the first and only award for opera librettists in the history of the art form (administered by OPERA America). In 2022, he co-created, with his As One collaborators, the True Voice Award to help with the training of transgender and non-binary singers (administered by Washington National Opera's Cafritz Young Artist's Program).

Operas (librettos) TitleDescriptionComposerCo-LibrettistProducing companyVolpone A Comic Opera in Two Acts

Unfaithfully fashioned from the play by Ben Jonson John MustoWolf Trap OperaLater the Same Evening An Opera Inspired by Five Paintings of Edward HopperJohn MustoThe University of Maryland School of MusicBastianello A Comic Opera Inspired by an Italian Folk TaleJohn MustoNew York Festival of Song/Carnegie HallLucreziaA Comic Opera based on Machiavelli's La Mandragola William BolcomNew York Festival of Song/Carnegie HallA Letter to East 11th Street An Opera in Two Parts Martin HennessyThe American Opera Project/CUNY Crane School of MusicThe Tell-Tale Heart An Operatic Monologue based on the Short Story by Edgar Allan Poe Lance HorneZipper TheatreThe Girl I Left Behind An Operatic Monologue based on the Short Story by Dame Muriel SparkLance HorneZipper TheatreA Hunger Artist An Operatic Monologue based on Kafka's The Hunger ArtistLance HorneZipper TheatreRappahannock County A Theatrical Song Cycle about the American Civil WarRicky Ian GordonVirginia Opera/Richmond University/ University of Texas Performing Arts CenterThe Inspector A Comic Opera in Two Acts Based on Gogol's The Government Inspector John MustoWolf Trap Opera/Boston Lyrics OperaSilent Night An Opera in Two Acts Adapted from the Film Joyeux Noël (screenplay by Christian Carion)Kevin PutsMinnesota OperaThe Manchurian Candidate An Opera in Two Acts Adapted from the novel by Richard Condon Kevin PutsMinnesota OperaA Song for Susan Smith An Opera in One Act Zach RedlerUniversity of Colorado New Opera WorkshopA Dog's Heart A Short Comic Opera based on Bulgakov's "Heart of a Dog" Lembit BeecherOpera PhiladelphiaThe Shining An Opera in Two Acts after the novel by Stephen KingPaul MoravecMinnesota OperaApproaching Ali A Family Opera based on Davis Miller's The Tao of Muhammad Ali D.J. SparrDavis MillerWashington National OperaAs One An Opera for Two Voices

and String Quartet Laura KaminskyKimberly ReedThe American Opera Project/Brooklyn Academy of MusicA Flourish of GreenA Mini-Opera based on a Story in Bocaccio's Decameron Missy MizzoliOpera PhiladelphiaThe Other Room A Monologue in One ActMarisa MichelsonInner VoicesMemory Boy A Children's Opera based on the Novel by Will Weaver Reinaldo MoyaMinnesota OperaEmpty the House An Opera in One Act Rene OrthCurtis School of Music/Opera PhiladelphiaThe Whole Truth A Comic Opera based on the Short Story by Stephen McCauleyRobert PatersonAmerican Modern EnsembleThe Good FriarA Comic Opera in One ActMartin HennessyElizabeth CreeAn Opera Adapted from the novel The Trial of Elizabeth Cree by Peter AckroydKevin PutsOpera Philadelphia/Chicago Opera TheatreSome Light EmergesA Chamber Opera in One Act about the Rothko ChapelLaura KaminskyKimberly ReedHouston Grand Opera/HGOCODinner At EightAn Opera in Two Acts based on the play by George S. Kaufman and Edna FerberWilliam BolcomMinnesota OperaThe (R)evolution of Steve JobsAn OperaMason BatesSanta Fe Opera/Seattle Opera/Indiana University Jacobs School of Music/San Francisco OperaThe Nefarious, Immoral But Highly Profitable Enterprise of Mr. Burke & Mr. HareAn Opera in One ActJulian GrantBoston Lyric Opera/Music-Theatre GroupThe Summer KingAn Opera in Two ActsDaniel SonenbergDaniel NestorPittsburgh Opera/American Opera ProjectToday It RainsAn Opera in One ActLaura KaminskyKimberly ReedOpera ParallèleStonewallAn Opera in One ActIain BellNew York City OperaEdward TulaneAn Opera in Two Acts after the novel The Miraculous Journey of Edward Tulane by Kate DiCamilloPaola PrestiniMinnesota OperaThe Secret RiverAn Opera based on the Novel by Marjorie Kinnan RawlingsStella SungOpera OrlandoFrida Kahlo and the Bravest Girl in the WorldA Children's Opera based on the Book by Laurence AnholtJoe IllickFt. Worth OperaSupermaxAn Opera in 60 MinutesStewart WallaceMichael KorieLong Beach Operaagain and again. and again.An Opera based on Corneille's The Comic IllusionConrad CummingsA Sweet Silence in CremonaA Comic Opera in One ActRoberto Scarcella PerinoNew York University/Florence Villa la Pietra, Teatro Comunale Ponchielli Stone SoupA Children's Opera in One ActJoe IllickFt. Worth OperaA Thousand AcresAn opera in two acts based on the novel by Jane Smiley Kristin KusterDes Moines Metro OperaBernadette's Cozy Book NookA Zoom opera in one actJoe IllickFt. Worth OperaUnruly SunAn music-theatre work inspired by Derek Jarman 's Modern NatureMatthew RickettsOrchestre classique de Montréal, Brott Opera, 21C Music Festival,

Musicals (lyrics) Piotr PiwowarczykTeatr Muzyczny w Poznaniu

Oratorios (text) TitleDescriptionComposerProducing companyCitationsSanctuary Road An oratorio inspired by the writings of William StillPaul MoravecOratorio Society of New YorkA Nation of OthersAn oratorio set on a single day at Ellis Island in 1921Paul MoravecOratorio Society of New YorkAll Shall RiseAn oratorio about voters' rightsPaul MoravecOratorio Society of New YorkÉmigréAbout the Jewish community in ShanghaiAaron Zigman

Song cycles (lyrics)

Thoroughfare Music by Conrad Cummings Eight Phases of Luna Music by Kamala Sankaram Dear Mayor Music by Mark Baechle And Another Song Comes On Music by Ben Moore Six Christmas Traditions Music by Jake Heggie Some Favored Nook Music by Eric Nathan The Nothing Lamp Music by Joseph N. Rubinstein A Year to the DayA dramatic song cycle for tenor, violin, cello and piano Lembit Beecher The Violin Channel

Awards and nominations

2019 GRAMMY Award for Best Opera Recording (The (R)evolution of Steve Jobs) 2012 Pulitzer Prize in Music for Silent Night Dominic J. Peliciotti Opera Award, A Letter to East 11th Street New York State Council on the Arts Award, Today It Rains Hewlett Foundation Award, Today It Rains First recipient of the Kleban Foundation Award for Lyricist 2007 GRAMMY Award nomination for Best Opera Recording for Volpone Three Drama Desk Award nominations Jonathan Larson Performing Arts Foundation Award New York Foundation for the Arts Playwriting Fellowship Two Richard Rodgers Awards from the American Academy of Arts and Letters Multi-Arts Production (MAP) Fund Grant Sundance Institute Theatre Lab Alumnus, Sundance Institute at Ucross Writer's Retreat, MacDowell Colony Fellow, Hermitage Artists Retreat Fellow

Libretto mentorship programs

Mark Campbell has created or helped create opera libretto-writing programs with the following organizations The American Opera Project Composers & The Voice American Lyric Theatre The American Opera Initiative University of Colorado New Opera Workshop Opera Philadelphia's Composer in Residence Program The John Duffy Institute for New Opera

Recordings

Volpone Wolf Trap Recordings Music Awake! Choral Music of Paul Moravec Bach Festival of Winter Park Recordings The Inspector Wolf Trap Recordings Later the Same Evening Albany Records Bastianello/Lucrezia Bridge Records Songs from an Unmade Bed Ghostlight Records/Sh-k-boom Records Rappahannock County Naxos The (R)evolution of Steve Jobs Pentatone As One Bright Shiny Things Sanctuary Road Naxos Silent Night Naxos New Words (Andrea Marcovicci) Cabaret Records Greenwich Time (Rebecca Luker) PS Classics Kiss Me While We Have the Chance (Steve Marzullo) Yellow Sound In Celebration of Life Abrams Gentile Broadway Bound (Sarah Jessica Parker/Matthew Broderick) Varèse Sarabande