When actor Mark Coles opens his mouth and starts singing ‘Ol’ Man River’, I get goosebumps on my arms. The hairs on my neck rise. It’s a song I’ve heard so many times, but never with the passion he gives it. Restored to its context, it’s a protest song that is quite profoundly moving.
- Guardian, London

 Mark Coles sang the role of “Joe” in Raymond Gubbay’s production of Show Boat, the first fully staged musical ever to be performed in the Royal Albert Hall in London, in June, 2006 with Francesca Zambello as director and David Charles Abell conducting the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra.

He began his professional career after winning the first prize in the Metropolitan Opera Auditions in San Francisco. Mark was then invited to join the San Francisco’s 1985 Merola Opera Program, and for the San Francisco Opera Center sang Leporello in the Western Opera Theater tour of  Don Giovanni. Solo appearances on the stage of the San Francisco Opera have included Starek ( Jenufa 1986) and Hans Foltz ( Die Meistersinger 1986), and an appearance in the video production of La Boheme , 1988.

Mark returned to San Francisco Opera in Fall, 2003 to sing the Old Convict in Johannes Schaaf’s production of Lady Macbeth from Mtsensk conducted by Donald Runnikles after a successful debut as Sarastro ( The Magic Flute -Lacy/Supple) with Opera North in Leeds, England. San Francisco saw him again as the Sacristan ( Tosca ) in the Fall of 2004 and Nourabad ( Pearl Fishers ) in the Summer of 2005.

In January of 2004 in Lyon and Geneva he created the role of the Missionary in the world premiere of Les Nègres (Gean Genet) composed by Michael Levinas, conducted by Bernhard Kantarsky and directed by Norday Stanislas.

As a finalist of the Belvedere Opera Competition 1988 in Vienna, Mark was invited to make his European Opera Debut as Arnold in Hans-Werner Henza’s The English Cat released on Wergo CD, followed by Bartolo in the Berliner Kammeroper’s production of Paisiello’s Il barbiere di Siviglia . A member of the  Stätische Bühnen Münster from 1990-1998,  he sang a wide range of roles including Daland ( Der fliegende Holländer ), Sparafucile ( Rigoletto ), Henry VIII ( Anna Bolena ), Bartolo ( Le nozze di Figaro ) and Don Pasquale , as well as Audry II in Little shop of Horrors , and the title role in Sweeney Todd .

Engagements since 1998 include Banquo in Macbeth (Coburg and Passau), Sparafucile (Aachen, Mannheim, and Coburg) the bass soloist in Schostakovich’s 14th Symphony with Maestro Hiroshi Kodama . Mark returned to Münster as Zuniga in Carmen and as Charlie in Also Wolves have Heartattacks (a fusion of three Kurt Weil pieces: Mahagony, The Lindenburg Flight and the Berliner Requiem) directed by Lorenzo Fioroni, and Joe in Showboat (Copenhagen, Aarhus and Bern).