Mark Billy, baritone

Mark Billy is the leading Indigenous baritone of his generation. He is a Verdi baritone, clarinetist, and Native flutist of Indigenous (Choctaw tribe) ancestry from Finley, Oklahoma.  He enjoys a multi-faceted career in opera, recitals with piano, concerts with orchestra, and Indigenous classical music education. Mark is at the forefront of the current musical movement which combines the sacred cultural music of the Indigenous peoples and Western concert music. ​

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In February of 2025 Mark joined the musicians of Mount Holyoke College in Massachusetts  to reprise the role of Inki' in Loksi' Shaali' (Shell Shaker) written by fellow Oklahoman and Chickasaw composer Jerod Impichchaachaaha' Tate. Mark made his debut as orchestral soloist with several professional orchestras including the Rochester Symphony, Bach Society of Minnesota, and the Lubbock Symphony. Singing  Mozart's Requiem, Haydn's Paukenmesse, and Carmina Burana. 

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In April 2025 Mr. Billy joined the Oklahoma City Philharmonic in the world premiere of Jerod Impichchaachaaha' Tate's American Indian Symphony. Mark recently collaborated with the Oklahoma City Philharmonic, singing in Choctaw and playing the native flute. In the 2021-22 season, the baritone stepped in at the last minute to sing Jerod Impichchaachaaha' Tate's work Standing Bear in the Ponca language at the 2022 Moab Music Festival in Utah. ​

 

Mark is the recipient of numerous awards and performance grants including the Music in Action Grant from the Wagner Society of the Upper Midwest, Opera Reading Project’s IDEA Fellowship, first prize in the St. Croix Valley Opera Competition and first prize in the Schubert Club Competition.

 

Mark has been a young artist with Hawaii Opera Theatre and with Fargo Moorhead Opera. Mark was a national finalist in the Ryan Opera Center auditions at the Lyric Opera of Chicago.  Mark’s major teachers have been George Smith, Richard Anderson, Carol Vaness, Marilyn Horne, and David Etheridge (clarinet). 

 

Please follow Mark on Instagram @markwobilly