Welcome to My World Mark Steven Doss feat. Ken Smith and Stas Venglevski

• Hector Berlioz (1803 - 1869): “Une puce gentille” from La damnation de Faust (1):
• 1 Berlioz: “Une puce gentille” from La damnation de Faust (1) 01:40
• Ludwig van Beethoven (1770 - 1827): “Flohlied” from Faust, Op. 75, No. 3 (1):
• 2 Beethoven: “Flohlied” from Faust, Op. 75, No. 3 (1) 02:04
• Modest Mussorgsky (1839 - 1881): Pesnja a Blaxe (Song of the flea) (1):
• 3 Mussorgsky: Pesnja a Blaxe (Song of the flea) (1) 03:02
• Arrigo Boito (1842 - 1918): “Ecco il mondo” from Mefistofele (1):
• 4 Boito: “Ecco il mondo” from Mefistofele (1) 02:31
• Charles Gounod (1818 - 1893): “Le veau d’or” from Faust (1):
• 5 Gounod: “Le veau d’or” from Faust (1) 02:29
• Georges Bizet (1838 - 1875): “Votre toast, je peux vous le rendre” (Toreador Song) from Carmen (1):
• 6 Bizet: “Votre toast, je peux vous le rendre” (Toreador Song) from Carmen (1) 03:58
• George Frideric Handel (1685 - 1759): “Sibillar gli angui d’Aletto” from Rinaldo (1):
• 7 Handel: “Sibillar gli angui d’Aletto” from Rinaldo (1) 05:07
• Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1756 - 1791): “Non più andrai” from Le Nozze di Figaro (1):
• 8 Mozart: “Non più andrai” from Le Nozze di Figaro (1) 03:30
• Gioacchino Rossini (1792 - 1868): “Là del ciel” from La Cenerentola (1):
• 9 Rossini: “Là del ciel” from La Cenerentola (1) 06:59
• Umberto Giordano (1867 - 1948): “Nemico della patria?” from Andrea Chénier (1):
• 10 Giordano: “Nemico della patria?” from Andrea Chénier (1) 04:39
• Eduardo di Capua (1865 - 1917): ’O sole mio (1):
• 11 Capua: ’O sole mio (1) 02:36
• Torna a Surriento (1):
• 12 Curtis: Torna a Surriento (1) 02:47
• Non ti scordar di me (1):
• 13 Curtis: Non ti scordar di me (1) 02:45
• Kurt Weill (1900 - 1950): “Lost in the Stars” from Lost in the Stars (1):
• 14 Weill: “Lost in the Stars” from Lost in the Stars (1) 03:12
• “O Tixo, Tixo Help Me!” from Lost in the Stars (1):
• 15 Weill: “O Tixo, Tixo Help Me!” from Lost in the Stars (1) 05:21
• “Thousands of Miles” from Lost in the Stars (1):
• 16 Weill: “Thousands of Miles” from Lost in the Stars (1) 03:56
• Louis Gruenberg (1884 - 1964): “Oh, Lawd Jesus, heah my Prayer” from Emperor Jones (1):
• 17 Gruenberg: “Oh, Lawd Jesus, heah my Prayer” from Emperor Jones (1) 03:48
• Thomas A. Dorsey (1899 - 1993): Peace in the Valley (1):
• 18 Dorsey: Peace in the Valley (1) 04:04
• Take my Hand, Precious Lord (1):
• 19 Dorsey: Take my Hand, Precious Lord (1) 04:53
• I’ll Walk with God (1):
• 20 Brodzky: I’ll Walk with God (1) 03:07
• You Raise Me Up (1):
• 21 Graham: You Raise Me Up (1) 05:00
• Total Runtime 01:17:28

Info for Welcome to My World

Welcome To My World, Grammy Award-winning bass-baritone Mark Steven Doss’s debut recording for Cedille Records, is a solo vocal recital showcasing Doss’s extraordinary career and artistic versatility. The recording provides a rich and varied musical experience, reflecting Doss’s range as a performer.

Mark Steven Doss has graced the stages of over 60 major international opera companies in more than 100 operatic roles.

This album celebrates the success of the renowned Bel Canto Foundation, of whose annual competition Doss was the1985 Grand Prize Winner. With the support of the Foundation, Doss had the opportunity to study with legendary tenor Carlo Bergonzi and embark on a continuing major international operatic career that has already spanned four decades. Cedille Records continues and immortalizes the Bel Canto Foundation’s tradition of supporting Chicago vocal talent with this release.

Doss is joined by celebrated pianist Ken Smith, who has also made significant contributions to the Bel Canto Foundation, including playing for the Foundation’s annual competition and serving as the principal coach for its seminars.

The album begins with music inspired by Goethe’s Faust by Berlioz, Beethoven, Mussorgsky, Boito, and Gounod, followed by iconic opera arias from composers such as Bizet, Handel, Mozart, Rossini, and Giordano. The album further explores three popular Neapolitan songs — in which Doss is joined by accordionist Stas Venglevski — followed by selections from music dramas by Weill and Gruenberg, as well as songs of faith.

Doss pays tribute to trailblazing African American baritone Todd Duncan, who was one of the first Black singers to perform with a major opera company, notably originating the role of Porgy in Porgy and Bess. In an homage to Duncan, Doss performs three songs from Kurt Weill’s opera Lost in the Stars, for which Duncan had originated the lead role of Stephen Kumalo.

The album was produced by the Grammy-winning team of James Ginsburg and engineer Bill Maylone, and recorded on November 28–30, 2022 at the Sasha and Eugene Jarvis Opera Hall at DePaul University (Chicago, IL).

Mark Steven Doss, bass-baritone
Ken Smith, piano

Mark Steven Doss
Grammy Award winner, Mark S. Doss has sung with the major orchestras of San Francisco, Philadelphia, Cleveland, Chicago, Houston and Toronto, while additionally performing 102 roles with more than 60 major opera companies around the world, including Milan’s Teatro alla Scala, the Vienna State Opera, London’s Royal Opera Covent Garden, San Francisco Opera, Lyric Opera of Chicago and the Canadian Opera Company.

The bass-baritone’s most recent engagements include the lead role of Alexandr Petrovič Gorjančikov in Leoš Janáček’s From the House of the Dead at the Teatro dell’Opera di Roma and a reprise of William Daley in Kris Defoort’s The Time of Our Singing with the Concert and Theatre house in St. Gallen, Switzerland. This past season also saw Mr. Doss’s Geffen Hall at Lincoln Center debut with the New York Philharmonic in two performances of Here I Stand: Paul Robeson’s 125th Birthday Celebration. Two months earlier, he gave a solo concert performance with New York’s Greenwich Village Orchestra to a full house and a standing ovation. In a span of just over eleven months he sang the bass-baritone part in Beethoven’s 9th Symphony with the Minnesota Orchestra, The Davenport Symphony, The Erie Philharmonic, the Fairfax Symphony, and the Houston Symphony Orchestra.

Other recent engagements include the roles of Creon and the Messenger in Opera Company of Philadelphia’s Oedipus Rex by Stravinsky; Balstrode in Britten’s Peter Grimes with La Fenice; Alfio in Cavalleria Rusticana at London’s Royal Opera; Nicholas Lens’ Shell Shock with the Philharmonie de Paris; then Scarpia in Puccini’s Tosca as well as the title role in Verdi’s Rigoletto with Welsh National Opera. Robert Gainer of Bachtrack wrote in his November 2019 review of Doss’s Rigoletto, “In the eponymous role was as rich a bass-baritone as I have heard anywhere, emanating from the powerful diaphragm of Mark S. Doss. He has the ability to project even his whispers, and at full pelt can make your seat vibrate with his mighty voice.”

Mr. Doss’ illustrious career has taken him to the most prestigious opera houses worldwide, including Milan’s Teatro alla Scala, with eight major roles that include Argante (Rinaldo), Jochanaan (Salome), and Amonasro (Aida); Turin’s Teatro Regio with Simone in Zemlinsky’s The Florentine Tragedy, Amonasro, and the title role in The Flying Dutchman. As the Dutchman, Jacques Schmitt of ResMusica wrote: “With Mark S. Doss, the cast includes one of the most beautiful voices that I can imagine in the title role. An already superb Jochanaan in Salomé in Torino in 2008, we find him here again in a role that is the measure of his superb voice. Full of innumerable colors, timbre, his voice has a unique harmonic richness that creates an irresistible attraction for this character.”

Additionally, at Lyric Opera of Chicago he has sung Escamillo in Carmen, Timur in Turandot, and Cinque in Amistad, among others; and at La Monnaie in Brussels he has taken on Escamillo, Amonasro, the Colonial Soldier in Shell Shock, and William Daley in The Time of Our Singing. With the Hyogo Performing Arts Center (Japan) he sang Germont in La Traviata, and he reprised the Four Villains (The Tales of Hoffmann) with the New National Opera in Tokyo.

Upcoming assignments include Verdi arias at a Special Gala in New York City, the bass-baritone soloist in Beethoven’s 9th Symphony at Teatro La Fenice on the Piazza San Marco in Venice, Germont in La Traviata with Welsh National Opera, performances of Zurga in The Pearl Fishers in Antwerp and Ghent, the Father in Euridyce at Boston Lyric Opera, Jochanaan in Salome with the Houston Symphony, and a reprise of William Daley with the original cast of The Time of Our Singing at La Monnaie in Brussels.

A Grammy Award Winner for his participation in Handel’s Semele (Best Opera Recording), he is also a recipient of the National Institute for Music Theatre’s George London Opera Prize, and Planet Africa’s Entertainment Award, which recognizes his achievements as an artist and for being a positive role model for youths in both Canada and the United States.

This album contains no booklet.