BIOGRAPHY
tephen Martin has enjoyed operatic engagements spanning throughout Italy, China, and the United States with roles including Rodolfo in Puccini’s La Bohème, Hoffmann in Offenbach’s The Tales of Hoffmann, Da Xing in Jin Xiang’s The Savage Land, Rinuccio in Puccini’s Gianni Schicchi, Casey in Ricki Ian Gordan’s The Grapes of Wrath, Tybalt in Gounod’s Roméo et Juliette, and Jean Valjean in Les Misérables. Stephen was an Apprentice Artist at the Santa Fe Opera for its 2016 and 2017 seasons, covering the roles of Monsieur Taupe in Capriccio and Tybalt in Roméo et Juliette, and singing the role of Normanno in Lucia di Lammermoor. He covered the roles of Pedro in d'Albert's Tiefland, Alfredo in Verdi's La Traviata and sang the role of Gastone at Sarasota Opera. This Summer, he performed the role of the Kronprinz in Mark Campbell's Silent Night, and was most recently a Resident Artist at Minnesota Opera where he covered Ruggero in La Rondine, reprised the role of Kronprinz in Silent Night, performed the role of Felice in Italian Straw Hat, Created the role of Ray "Cracker" Shalk in the world premiere of Joel Puckett's The Fix, and debuted the role of Alfredo in La Traviata. He will revisit the role of Alfredo in La Traviata with Opera in the Rock in May, 2020.
Stephen has twice won the East Tennessee District Metropolitan Opera Competition and is the recipient of an Encouragement Award at the Mid-South Regional Metropolitan Opera competition. He was awarded the Mandelker/Harris Award for Outstanding Returning Studio Artist at Sarasota Opera, won the Charlotte Ruppel Memorial Voice Competition, the Michigan State University Concerto/Honors competition, received both the Jewell and Rohrstock voice fellowships at Michigan State University, and was selected to be a Mackey Scholar.
Stephen holds Masters Degrees in Voice Performance and Music Theory Pedagogy and a Bachelors degree in Voice Performance from Michigan State University. He recently joined the University of Central Arkansas as a tenure-track faculty member, and is very excited at the opportunity to teach and perform regularly.