Master Guest Clinician

Sought after pianist, coach, and conductor, Mario Antonio Marra was recently appointed the Head of Music at Minnesota Opera for the 2022-2023 season where he will also steward the development of the company’s Resident Artists. He has served on the music staff at the Lyric Opera of Chicago, San Francisco Opera, and Oper Frankfurt among others. Passionate in his work nurturing and coaching the next generation of singers, Mr. Marra has also served on the faculties of many prestigious training programs such as the Merola Opera Program in San Francisco, CoOPERAtive in Princeton, NJ, and the Institute of Bel Canto in San Miguel de Allende, Mexico, among others.

An active recitalist, he has recently performed with many of today’s most sought after singers including Željko Lučić, Eric Owens, Quinn Kelsey, and with Stephanie Blythe in her widely celebrated Sing America! program. He has been presented at prestigious venues internationally, including Carnegie Hall in New York, Auditorium Parco della Musica in Rome, The Kennedy Center in Washington D.C., Palazzo Davanzati in Florence, Oper Frankfurt, the Civic Opera House in Chicago, and many others. During his time as a member of the Ryan Opera Center at the Lyric Opera of Chicago, he curated a recital series of Neapolitan Music for the Art Institute of Chicago.

Lauded by the legendary Marilyn Horne for his “superb technique,” Marra was a winner of the Marilyn Horne Song Competition at Music Academy of the West, along with the critically acclaimed young baritone John Brancy. He was a member of the Patrick G. and Shirley W. Ryan Opera Center young artist program at the Lyric Opera of Chicago. His mentors and teachers include Norma Verrilli, Marilyn Nonken, and Warren Jones.