Mark Campbell (librettist)

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 [https://www.operaamerica.org/programs/services/grants-awards/artists/campbell-opera-librettist-prize/#:~:text=The%20Campbell%20Opera%20Librettist%20Prize%20bestows%20a%20%247%2C000%20award%20each,or%20DACA%20status%20may%20apply. 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).

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

Mark Campbell has created or helped create opera libretto-writing programs with the following organizations
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
 * The American Opera Project Composers & The Voice

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