“Stephen Clark played Mustafà with Full Conviction and skillfully used his dark, Slim bass.” 

Markus Wilks, Das Opernglas

Noted for his "powerful" and "metallic" voice as well as his “enthusiastic stage presence,” American bass Stephen Clark is developing an exciting international opera career. In the 2023-24 season, he will cover the roles of The Doctor, the Conman, Khozrev-Mirza, and the Clerk from the Newspaper Office in Chicago Opera Theater’s production of Dmitry Shostakovich’s The Nose. He spent the previous five seasons (2018-2023) as an ensemble member of the Theater am Goetheplatz in Bremen, Germany. Highlights from his time there include numerous performances of Sarastro and Der Sprecher in two different productions of Die Zauberflöte, as well as appearances in roles such as Leporello in Don Giovanni, Dulcamara in L’elisir d’amore, Mustafà in L’italiana in Algieri, Don Basilio in Il Barbiere di Siviglia, Osmin in Die Entführung aus dem Serail, Harašta in The Cunning Little Vixen, Roy Cohn in Péter Eötvös’ contemporary opera Angels in America, Stárek (The Mill Foreman) in Jenůfa, Truffaldino in Ariadne auf Naxos, Melisso in Alcina, Graf Ribbing in Un ballo in maschera, A Monk in Don Carlo, Tsurin in The Queen of Spades, and Der Theaterdirektor and Bankier in Lulu. He also made guest appearances with the prestigious Staatsoper unter den Linden in Berlin as the Stárek in Jenůfa, the Volkstheater in Rostock as Harašta in The Cunning Little Vixen, and as a bass soloist with the Bremen Cathedral Choir in a Good Friday performance of Bach’s St. John’s Passion.

Before his time in Germany, Stephen was a member of the Yale Opera program. During his time there, he made a number of role debuts, such as Sarastro and Don Alfonso in Così fan tutte. Along with time on the stage at Yale, he performed frequently in concert, appearing as a soloist in the first two parts of Handel's Messiah with the Hartford Chorale, in Stravinsky's Renard with Orchestra New England, and in Beethoven's Ninth Symphony with the Waterbury Symphony, the Hartford Symphony, and most notably with the Yale Philharmonia under the baton of Marin Alsop. 

During his years as a young artist, Mr. Clark performed various roles with a number of American opera houses. In 2018, he appeared with Chautauqua Opera as Masetto in their production of Don Giovanny. In two seasons with Central City Opera between 2016 and 2017, he sang Angelotti in Tosca, a Denver Politician in The Ballad of Baby Doe and Azarias in Britten’s The Burning Fiery Furnace. He has also given performances with Sarasota Opera, the Fort Worth Opera Festival, and his hometown company, Tulsa Opera. He currently makes his residence in Chicago, Illinois.