Conductor
Snapshots
opera performances
A full repertoire list is available via email
Opera Australia
Sydney Opera House
Giuseppe Verdi: Rigoletto
Director: Elijah Moshinsky
Under conductor Mark Summerbell, the Australian Opera & Ballet Orchestra responds quite magnificently to the drama, from the most subtle integration with all the sensations this Rigoletto provides, to strident command of those sensations.
Telegraph Mirror, Sydney
Opera Australia
Sydney Opera House
Benjamin Britten: A Midsummer Night’s Dream
Director: Baz Luhrmann
Chamber Made Opera
Athenaeum Theatre, Melbourne
The Wharf Studio, Sydney
The Kennedy Centre, Washington DC, USA
Gordon Kerry: Medea (World premiere)
Director: Douglas Horton
...the most incisive contemporary opera conductor we have...dissipates any doubt that the score is under control at every point - a rare talent.
The Age
Compelling, fascinating, and above all, entertaining...
The Herald Sun
Opera Australia
Sydney Opera House
State Theatre, Melbourne Arts Centre
Gilbert & Sullivan: The Mikado
Director: Christopher Renshaw
Music Theatre Sydney
Bangarra Studio, Sydney
North Melbourne Town Hall, Melbourne
Elena Kats-Chernin: Iphis (World premiere)
Director: Douglas Horton
…another exemplary reading from the Seymour Group … Under music director Mark Summerbell, the nine instrumentalists maintain absolute security despite the music’s frequent and piquant changes of mood and style.
Sydney Morning Herald
Mark Summerbell conducts with aplomb, always on top of the lively postmodern score; his Seymour Group, a chamber orchestra of nine musicians, play excellently.
The Bulletin
Conductor Mark Summerbell led the outstanding 9 member Seymour Group and his cast of 6 singers through a brisk, serenely confident reading of the score. Summerbell and his musical charges embraced Kats-Chernin’s music with such energy and delight that they gathered and swept the audience along with them.
The Australian
West Australian Opera
His Majesty’s Theatre, Perth
Gaetano Donizetti: L’Elisir d’Amore
Director: Simon Phillips
Theatre of Image
The Seymour Centre, Sydney
Graeme Koehne: Grandma’s Shoes (World premiere)
Director: Kim Carpenter
Chamber Made Opera
Malthouse Theatre, Melbourne
Brian Howard: Wide Sargasso Sea (World premiere)
Director: Douglas Horton
Mark Summerbell conducted his excellent 14-piece orchestra in a tightly controlled performance that never flagged… once again, Chamber Made Opera has had the courage and imagination to challenge, tease and delight its audience.
The Australian
Chamber Made Opera / Ariel New Music
The Church Theatre, Melbourne
Donald Hollier: The Heiress (World premiere)
Director: Douglas Horton
Mark Summerbell directed the Ariel New Music Ensemble with great flair and polish….
The Age
Deftly directed, and beautifully realised. Chamber Made Opera, the Church Theatre and Ariel New Music have all done a great service to Donald Hollier in this production…they have enriched us all by resurrecting The Heiress from its shameful limbo...
The Age
Congratulations must go to the many musicians, both vocal and instrumental, involved in this event...interesting and provocative…
The Melbourne Review
Music Theatre Sydney
The Studio, Sydney Opera House
Chamber Opera: Woman Dreaming (World premiere)
Composer: Michael Atherton
Librettist: John Wregg
Summerbell's conducting is a source of strength.
Sydney Morning Herald