Mark S. Doss in the title role of The Flying Dutchman at the Teatro Communale di Bologna, Italy in 2013.

Mark S. Doss in the title role of The Flying Dutchman at the Teatro Communale di Bologna, Italy in 2013.
Photo Credit: Rai5 (broadcast) / RAITRADE

Diversity on stage good for all: opera star

Racism “is a barrier. It’s a difficulty. It’s something that has to be broken down. And, once it’s broken down, it’s much more beneficial to all of society,” says Mark S. Doss, a Grammy-award-winning opera singer based in Toronto. Doss has performed in 87 different roles in more than 60 opera houses around the world.

Opera singer Mark S. Doss says some operas lend themselves to ‘updating’ and more diversity in casting.
Opera singer Mark S. Doss says some operas lend themselves to ‘updating’ and more diversity in casting. © Sudeep Studio

‘Just the wrong colour’

That he was “just the wrong colour” was a comment he heard second-hand earlier in his career, but he says it was not typical. Acceptance in the world of opera appears to have varied. Doss says “It goes and flows, I think, in periods of acceptance and non-acceptance, difficulties and non-difficulties.

“It (the comment) is just something that happened at the time. I don’t think I have ever gotten anything quite that extreme or quite candid as far as saying something about colour.”

Being black ‘can be a barrier,’ but…

Asked whether being black is a barrier to getting roles, Doss says it can be, because opera is a predominantly European art form. But some pieces lend themselves more to “updating” and “in that you can introduce more diversity.”

And diversity is good, says Doss. “Diversity is quite good for all of us. It keeps us open-minded and allows us to be more balanced in our way of thinking.”

Mark S. Doss was honoured as a positive role model for children like these at the Buchanan Park Opera Club in Hamilton, Ontario.
Mark S. Doss was honoured as a positive role model for children like these at the Buchanan Park Opera Club in Hamilton, Ontario. © Dawn Martens of BPOC
Listen

A positive role model

Doss received the Planet Africa Entertainment award in 2011 for his accomplishments in the performing arts and as a positive role model for youth.

He is now involved with ArsMusica, which bills itself as Canada’s Ethnocultural Music and Opera Company and the Buchanan Park Opera Club in Hamilton, Ontario. It provides opera education and performance training to children.

Categories: Arts & Entertainment, Society
Tags: , , ,

Do you want to report an error or a typo? Click here!

For reasons beyond our control, and for an undetermined period of time, our comment section is now closed. However, our social networks remain open to your contributions.