Arts & Humanities Lecture Series 2009-2010
Featuring Distinguished Alumnus
Marcus Nance
Described by the Toronto Star as “a major talent”, the Globe and Mail as possessing a “rich voice and strong stage presence”, and Echo Weekly as “providing an impressive eye-popping physique and commanding the stage with every appearance”, Marcus Nance most recently was seen in Moby Dick, The Music Man, My One and Only and To Kill a Mockingbird all for The Stratford Shakespeare Festival, the Beast in Beauty and the Beast for both Western Canada Theatre and the Grand Theatre, the Mikado in The Mikado for Drayton Entertainment, Porgy in Porgy and Bess with the Toronto Symphony Orchestra and appeared in Floyd Collins and Pal Joey for the Shaw Festival.
New York audiences have seen Marcus on Broadway in Baz Luhrman’s Production of La Boheme, in NY City Centre’s productions of Kismet and Of Thee I Sing and in Cenerentola with New York City Opera.
He has also sung concerts and leading roles with opera companies and orchestras of Toronto, New York City, Chicago, Hawaii, Santa Fe, Glimmerglass, Victoria, London, Chautauqua, Shreveport, Virginia, Austin, Monterey, NAC, Illinois, Fairbanks, Vancouver, Edmonton, Tacoma, Natchez, and the Jazz Festivals of Ottawa and Toronto.
Marcus starred in the world premiere of Atom Egoyan’s Elsewhereless with Tapestry New Opera Works, and his riveting performance garnered him a Dora nomination for Most Outstanding Male Performer in an opera. Other awards include The Metropolitan Opera National Council (Regional), The National Opera Association Vocal Competition and a Tyrone Guthrie Study Award from the Stratford Shakespeare Festival.
Having made his feature film debut as the singing accountant in Mel Brookes movie The Producer’s starring Nathan Lane and Matthew Broderick, Marcus recently began hosting the cabaret series Divos and Divas with Marcus Nance at Statler’s in Toronto. As a professional model he has been seen in fashion spreads or walking the catwalk at Toronto Fashion Week.