Baritone Markel Reed, a native of Charlotte, North Carolina, has been featured in various concerts, recitals, and performances throughout North America and Europe. As a passionate conveyor of the operatic repertoire, Markel is a wonderful interpreter of both classic and contemporary works. Last season, he was seen in his charming portrayal of Figaro in Il barbiere di Siviglia with Virginia Opera. The following spring, he performed Shawn Okpebholo’s works Two Black Churches and Songs in Flight with the Wheaton College Artist Series, exploring the experiences of Black enslaved and brutalized peoples. Within contemporary opera, Markel originated the role of Chester in the premiere of Terence Blanchard’s acclaimed Fire Shut Up in My Bones with Opera Theatre of Saint Louis (OTSL), and later followed the production to the Metropolitan Opera where he covered Adult James in their historic season premiere. He also had the honor of portraying Young Emile Griffith, the title role in Blanchard’s Champion, with Boston Lyric Opera. Markel sang in the premiere of Damien Sneed and Karen Chilton’s The Tongue & The Lash at OTSL, where he portrayed “a credible James Baldwin and sang through his argument with power and finesse” (St. Louis Post-Dispatch). Opera Today deemed Markel “a physical dynamo and a vocal delight” for his portrayal of Parson Alltalk in Sneed’s revision of Joplin’s Treemonisha at OTSL, and The Boston Globe said he “sang with magnetic swagger as the fighter in his prime” as Young Emile in Blanchard’s Champion with Boston Lyric Opera. His other recent successes include Joey in The Time of Our Singing with Theater St. Gallen in Switzerland, Marcello in La bohème with Opera Steamboat, and Masetto in Don Giovanni with Opera Omaha