Though broadly experienced in the choral, orchestral, and operatic repertoires, Mark Bailey’s field of expertise focuses on Slavic and Baroque/Classical music performance practice. Among his recent activities, in November 2006 Mr. Bailey guest conducted Cappella Romana, a professional chamber choir based in Portland, Oregon, in a program of Russian choral music featuring the Tchaikovsky Divine Liturgy. The Oregonian called the performance “pure, sumptuous pleasure,” and praised Mr. Bailey for his style of interpretation. He will be returning to Portland and Seattle in October, 2008, to conduct Capella Romana in a program of works from the Ukrainian Baroque era.

The New York Times and other publications have noted Mr. Bailey in particular as a leading expert in the field of Slavic choral music, a topic on which he lectures throughout the country, especially at Lincoln Center as a featured speaker on the Great Performers Series. At the 2007 Mostly Mozart Festival, Mr. Bailey delivered a standing-room only lecture comparing the Fauré Requiem to the Rachmaninoff All-Night Vigil. Among his recordings, Mr. Bailey’s 1996 CD with the Yale Russian Chorus (YRC), a renowned ensemble for which he is artistic director, was placed on The New York Times “Critics’ Choice List” as well as listed as a “must have” by National Public Radio’s “Performance Today” and several major publications, including Billboard Magazine, The Richmond Times, and The New Haven Advocate. A new YRC recording is due for release in the Spring of 2008.

Mr. Bailey’s most recent appearance at Carnegie Hall as guest conductor for a gala concert commemorating Russian poet Alexander Pushkin, which featured some of Russia’s finest opera singers, was praised by New York Times critic Bernard Holland. The Hartford Courant has also featured Mr. Bailey’s unique programming and repertoire selections as a conductor. In addition, Mr. Bailey lectures and publishes on sacred music throughout the country, and is extensively involved with period performance practice for choral and instrumental works. He was also chosen to participate in the 2007 Tafelmusik Baroque Summer Institute, Toronto, Canada, as a conductor and will return again in 2008.

Mr. Bailey currently serves on the faculty of St. Vladimir’s Orthodox Seminary in Crestwood, New York, where he teaches composition, analysis, choral leadership, and Church Slavonic, and serves on the conducting staff for the chapel choirs. Recently, Mr. Bailey was named Program Director for the Peter Prokofiev Advanced Certificate in Liturgical Music at St. Vladimir’s Seminary, a unique one-year intensive program designed by Mr. Bailey, for the training of choir directors. In 2007 he also founded and led the Composers Seminar at St. Vladimir’s, which will take place again this year in June. As well, he is vice-president of PSALM, an international organization dedicated to Orthodox sacred music. At PSALM’s first international conference during the summer of 2006, Mr. Bailey served as music director and principal conductor, leading a conference choir of 150 choir directors and expert singers. He also instructs and coaches voice privately, especially in 18th century period performance technique.

As a composer, Mr. Bailey was commissioned in 2007 by Yale instructor Scott Hartman and the Yale Trombones to compose a piece for them, which premiered in Hartford, Connecticut, in early May 2008. Mr. Bailey’s instrumental and choral compositions have also premiered at Lincoln Center, Yale University, Boston’s renowned Emmanuel Church, throughout the United States, and St. Basil’s Cathedral in Moscow, Russia. Mr. Bailey is also co-founder and co-director of the Benchmark Performance Series on Cape Cod, and creator of the annual Slavic Music Festival at Yale University.

Currently, in addition to his activities as a performer, instructor, and composer, Mr. Bailey is a Research Associate at the Yale Music Library and a Fellow at Yale University’s Davenport College, where he is also an advisor to freshmen and sophomores. Mr. Bailey earned his music degrees at the Eastman School of Music and at the Yale School of Music (through the Yale Institute of Sacred Music), Yale University. He has studied conducting principally with Harold Farberman, Marguerite Brooks, and David Effron, and has coached with Daniel Lewis. His former conducting positions include co-founder and Music Director of the New England Benefit Orchestra, Boston, Massachusetts, Artistic Director of the Festival Chamber Orchestra at Yale, New Haven, Connecticut, Assistant Conductor of the Heidelberg Castle Opera Festival, Heidelberg, Germany, Assistant Conductor of the Eastman School of Music Philharmonia Symphony Orchestra and Department of Opera, Rochester, New York, and several others. Currently, he also directs the Westchester Concert Singers.