Mark Bailey, Music Director

photo by Paige Baker

Conductor Mark Bailey is broadly experienced in the choral, orchestral, and operatic repertoires, and has composed and debuted several major works. He is also Artistic Director of the renowned Yale Russian Chorus as well as the New Haven Oratorio Choir, an ensemble dedicated to period performance style. Former positions include Music Director of the Manchester Symphonic Chorale, Manchester, Connecticut, co-founder and Music Director of the New England Benefit Orchestra, Boston, Massachusetts, Artistic Director of the Festival Chamber Orchestra at Yale, New Haven, Connecticut, Assistant Conductor of the Heidelberg Castle Opera Festival, Heidelberg, Germany, Assistant Conductor of the Eastman School of Music Philharmonia Symphony Orchestra and Department of Opera, Rochester, New York and several others. The New York Times and other publications have noted Mr. Bailey in particular as a leading expert in the field of Slavic choral music, a topic on which he lectures throughout the country, especially at Lincoln Center as a featured speaker on the Great Performers Series. Among his recordings, Mr. Bailey's 1996 CD with the Yale Russian Chorus was placed on the New York Times "Critics’ Choice List" as well as listed as a "must have" by National Public Radio's "Performance Today" and several major publications, including Billboard Magazine, the Richmond Times, and the New Haven Advocate. Mr. Bailey's most recent appearance at Carnegie Hall as guest conductor for a gala concert commemorating Russian poet Alexander Pushkin, which featured some of Russia's finest opera singers, was praised by critic Bernard Holland. The Hartford Courant has also featured Mr. Bailey's unique programming and repertoire selections as a conductor. Mr. Bailey also lectures and publishes on sacred music throughout the country, and is extensively involved with period performance practice for choral and instrumental works. As an instructor, Mr. Bailey currently serves on the faculty of St. Vladimir's Orthodox Seminary in Crestwood, New York, where he teaches composition, analysis, and choral leadership techniques, and serves on the conducting staff for the chapel choirs. He also instructs voice privately and coaches professional singers. Mr. Bailey’s instrumental and choral compositions have premiered at Lincoln Center, Yale University, Boston's renowned Emmanuel Church, throughout the United States, and St. Basil's Cathedral in Moscow, Russia. Mr. Bailey is also co-founder and co-director of the Benchmark Performance Series on Cape Cod, and creator of the annual Slavic Music Festival at Yale University. Currently, in addition to his activities as a performer, instructor, and composer, Mr. Bailey is a Research Associate at the Yale Music Library and is a Fellow at Yale University's Davenport College, where he is also a Freshmen Advisor. Mr. Bailey earned his music degrees at the Eastman School of Music and at the Yale School of Music, Yale University. He has studied conducting principally with Harold Farberman, Marguerite Brooks, and David Effron, and has coached with Daniel Lewis.