Mark
Lubas

BIOGRAPHY

 

MARK LUBAS is a stage director, voice teacher, and tenor originally from Wethersfield, CT. Mark made his adult professional debut in 1996 with the Nashville Symphony as the soloist in Handel’s Messiah, and has directed and performed roles with companies including Aspen Opera Theatre Company, Boston Lyric Opera, Mobile Opera, Opéra Bastide, Opera Carolina, and Opera Tampa.

Fresh from directing an Art Deco 1930’s Don Pasquale set in Northern Colorado for Opera Fort Collins in March 2025, Mark is excited to direct his updated concept and design for Mozart’s The Impresario, re-imagined to take place in the present at Campus Commons Performance Hall at the University of Northern Colorado (UNC).

In November 2024, Mark directed Bizet’s Le docteur Miracle with UNC Opera Theatre. Just prior to that, he assistant directed Mozart’s La flûte enchantée (The Magic Flute) in July of 2024 in a multi-lingual production in Villefranche-de-Rouergue, France in coordination with Opéra Bastide, and made his Opera Fort Collins début as Assistant Director for da Falla’s La Vida Breve in June 2024.

In April 2024 he performed the rôle of Nemorino in L’Elisir D’Amore with the UNC Opera Theatre. Other recent engagements include Chip in Leonard Bernstein’s On the Town with Artist Series of Sarasota and Dr. Blind in Strauss’s Die Fledermaus with Opera Tampa). World premiere roles include a reading of Sherlock Holmes in Cortese and Luedloff’s 221B (UNC), the Juror in Machover’s Resurrection (Boston Lyric Opera), and Johnnie in Hulse’s The Game (Kennedy Center).

 

TEACHING AND DIRECTING EXPERIENCE

 

Director and Production Manager, Opera Fort Collins, Fort Collins, CO  (December 2024-present)

  • Don Pasquale, Donizetti  (March 7 & 8, 2025)
    Responsible for Production Staging; Rehearsal Schedule Construction; Coordination of Set Design and Build; Lighting Design; Supertitle Composition; Costumes, Prop, and Furnishing acquisition and management; and construction/administration of production week schedule

Assistant Director, Opera Fort Collins, Fort Collins, CO  (May-June 2024)

  • La Vida Breve, de Falla  (June 2024)
    Responsible for maintaining a log of blocking direction; addressing actor/singer concerns; reblocking problematic scenes; and running rehearsals in the absence of the director

Assistant Director, Lyric Arts France/Opera Bastide, Villefranche-de-Rouergue, FR  (June – July 2024)

  • La flûte enchantée, Mozart  (July 2024)
    Responsible for maintaining a log of blocking direction; addressing actor/singer concerns; reblocking problematic scenes; learning and abiding by French labor laws; and running rehearsals in the absence of the director

Doctoral Candidate/Graduate Teaching Assistant, University of Northern Colorado, Greeley, CO (August 2023 – present) – ABD July 2025; Completion Date of Doctor of Arts in Vocal Performance – May 2026

  • Taught individual voice lessons, with a technical focus on vocal health and articulative relaxation, muscular coordination/release, breath origin/management/direction, vowel placement, and finding singer’s formant/maximizing resonance in each student
  • Cultivated interpretive artistry in students through system of word-for-word translations, diction and pronunciation assessments, vowel-based vocal exercises using songs to be performed, and student staging assignments and coaching
  • Coached students toward vocal health in roles and assignments to be performed in university musicals/ensembles/classes
  • Prepared students for NATS Chapter and regional auditions
  • Mentored/Coached undergraduate students on practice habits, role preparation, diction, and recitative performance practice
  • Taught English, Italian, French, and German Diction for singers – IPA, phonemes, rules, performance
  • Directed Mainstage Operas and Opera Scenes for Opera Program
  • Assistant Directed Mainstage Operas for Opera Program
  • Dissertation Topic: The Efficacy of Non-verbal Gestures in the Applied Studio Environment

Adjunct Professor of Voice, University of Tampa, Tampa, FL  (August 2017 – May 2023)

  • Taught individual voice lessons, with a technical focus on vocal health and articulative relaxation, muscular coordination/release, breath origin/management/direction, vowel placement, and finding singer’s formant/maximizing resonance in each student
  • Prepared age- and development level-appropriate Musical Theatre and Classical-based literature for Musical Theater (BFA) and Voice (MUS Ed and Performance) majors for recitals, juries, and auditions (internal & external)
  • Cultivated interpretive artistry in students through system of word-for-word translations, diction and pronunciation assessments, vowel-based vocal exercises using songs to be performed, and student staging assignments and coaching
  • Coached students toward vocal health in roles and assignments to be performed in university musicals/ensembles/classes
  • Provided paid performance-based internship positions for current vocal students in professional area performing arts organizations and churches
  • Directed scenes for Voice Performance/Opera Workshop Ensemble
  • Guest-Taught Vocal Pedagogy, Diction, and Music History Classes as needed
  • Prepared students for NATS Chapter and regional auditions; over 40% of students won and/or placed

 

TEACHING PHILOSOPHY
BULLET POINTS:

 

  • Students learn easily and fully in a safe, inclusive, caring, and supportive environment; that environment encourages them to take risks without fear of repercussion or failure. 
  • Once that environment is created and nurtured, learning begins. Environment encourages learning; students ask questions and experiment with critical thinking and how their bodies (instruments) make sound. 
  • Process is more important than product. 
  • Communication is instinctual, as evidenced by the fact that we scream or cry almost from the moment we are born; to stifle that instinct is counterproductive. 
  • We also breathe instinctually (breath coordination), which explains how we make it through the night alive when we fall asleep. 
  • Therefore, humans are naturally equipped to coordinate their muscles to make noise (sing); in the applied studio, I strive to help them be aware of and react to the physical sensations produced by their body while singing. 
  • The student has the tools to use their own body/instrument, and the teacher guides the student towards using those tools efficiently. 
  • Overall process outcome goals: individual growth, collective positivity and contribution to an inclusive, supportive community.