A VERSATILE ARTIST

Hailed as “thrillingly powerful” by the New York Times and "a major talent" by The Toronto Star, 2024 Dora Award winner Marcus Nance masterfully straddles the worlds of  opera, musical theatre, film, and cabaret. He won My Entertainment World's  2023 Critics' Pick Award for Performer of the Year where they described him as "one of Canada's greatest musical theatre talents". Recent engagements include  The Businessman in Pacific Opera Victoria's The Little Prince,  Jupiter in Cymbeline, Doctor Giles and the Crocodile in Wendy and Peter Pan, the Creature in Frankenstein Revived  and the Abbot of Westminster in Richard II at the Stratford Festival;  Andrey, Old Bolkonsky and the Opera Singer in Natasha Pierre and the Great Comet of 1812 with Crow's Theatre and Musical Stage Company; Dick Deadeye in Gilbert & Sullivan’s H.M.S. Pinafore with the Vancouver Opera, Benjamin Stone in Sondheim’s Follies at Koerner Hall, and standby for Coalhouse Walker Jr. in Ragtime with Theatre Calgary and The Calgary Philharmonic. 

Having already made his  film debut as the singing accountant in Mel Brooks feature film The Producers, Marcus Nance recently returned to the world of TV and film with appearances on Queen Tut, Good Sam, Murdoch Mysteries, Departure and Mayday.

New York audiences saw Marcus Nance on Broadway as Caiaphas in Jesus Christ Superstar and in Baz Luhrman’s Tony Award winning production of La Boheme; as Alidoro in Cenerentola with New York City Opera Education, in Encores! productions of Kismet and Of Thee I Sing, and in concert at The Metropolitan Room and at The Public Theatre.

Marcus Nance garnered international attention as Malcolm in the world premiere of Atom Egoyan’s opera Elsewhereless with Tapestry New Opera Works which earned him a Dora Mavor Moore Award nomination for Most Outstanding Male Performer. For Queen of Puddings Music Theatre he created the role of Moses in the world premiere of the epic opera Beatrice Chancy. Other operatic highlights include the Bass in Tapestry Opera's Dark Star Requiem (Juno award nominee for Classical Album of the Year), Sparafucile in Rigoletto with the Tacoma Opera, Compere in Four Saints in Three Acts with Chicago Opera Theatre, Basilio in The Barber of Seville for Monterey Opera Association, and Ali in L'Italiana in Algeri for Hawaii Opera Theatre.

He has spent twelve seasons at the  Stratford Festival where his assignments have included a digital performance of his solo show Voice of a Preacher's Son, Caiaphas in Jesus Christ Superstar, Queequeg in Moby Dick, and Rev. J.D. Montgomery in Gershwin’s My One and Only and two seasons at the Shaw Festival where his portrayal of Judge Turpin in Sweeney Todd was hailed by the Toronto Star as a "standout performance... with his stunning singing voice and commanding physical presence". Other musical theatre highlights include Clairborne in the world premiere of Evangeline at the Charlottetown Festival, the beast in Beauty and the Beast for The Grand Theatre and Western Canadian Theatre, King Triton in The Little Mermaid and the Mikado in The Mikado for Drayton Entertainment and Porgy in Porgy and Bess highlights in concert with The Toronto Symphony. 

He received his Bachelor of Arts in Music and Voice from California State University, Fresno and has done graduate work in voice at the University of Texas and the University of Illinois. Marcus Nance is on the faculty of Sheridan College’s Musical Theatre Department, was the master voice teacher for Stratford Sumer Music's 2024 Music Academy, and frequently adjudicates music festivals and has given vocal masterclasses throughout Canada and the US. Marcus Nance has been selected to serve on the International Congress of Voice Teachers (ICVT) Program Committee for the 2025 convention in Toronto, Ontario where he will also be the featured soloist at the opening ceremonies.