Marc Abbott, baritone
Upcoming Performances
Biography
MARC ABBOTT, baritone, grew up singing in church choirs in Phoenix, Arizona (not completely willingly, at first…). After starting his Plebe - a.k.a. Freshman - year as a cadet of the United States Military Academy at West Point, he successfully auditioned for the West Point Glee Club as a means of getting out of afternoon parade practice. With the Glee Club, he sang in venues such as Alice Tully Hall of New York City’s Lincoln Center, and recorded the album Stand Ye Steady: Songs of Courage and Inspiration (2005). After changing majors to Information Technology, there wasn’t enough time for singing and graduating, so his major took precedence for a few years while he studied computer science and cybersecurity - culminating in a 2009 victory over Navy during the Cyber Defense Exercise and an appearance on the front page of the New York Times. He then graduated from the Academy with a Bachelor of Science and received a commission as an officer in the United States Army in 2009.
After completing military service, he moved to the Washington, DC area and began performing with the Northern Virginia Institute Choir of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. In more than one performance, after an unknown audience member approached him to ask if he’d been taking voice lessons, he decided to pursue solo voice studies in 2013. A fellow choir member introduced him to Dr. Harry Dunstan of the American Center for Puccini Studies, and he performed in multiple operas over the years with the Center, including Baron Pictordu in Viardot’s Cendrillon, Guglielmo Wulf in Puccini’s Le Villi and Michele in Il tabarro (and as Scarpia in a cancelled production of Tosca), the Magistrate and the title in several productions of Thomas Pasatieri’s Signor Deluso, and Herr Colas in Mozart’s Bastien und Bastienne. He also won the role of St. Thomas in the 2014 production of Savior of the World at the Washington DC Temple Visitors’ Center, reprising the role in 2015. More recently, he performed as Schaunard in Puccini’s La bohème and Escamillo in Bizet’s Carmen with Lyrical Opera Theatre of Taylorsville, Utah. He also recently completed a summer internship with OperaLucca in Lucca, Italy, singing scenes as Count Almaviva from Mozart’s Le nozze di Figaro; Guglielmo from Così fan tutte; and a complete role as Dr. Spinelloccio / Ser Amantio di Nicolao in Puccini’s Gianni Schicchi.
He is a part-time copyeditor; his last big project was typesetting and proofreading his wife’s dissertation and rendering it in LaTeX. He loves cooking Italian food from scratch, using the old world methods; he loves rock climbing; he’s a world traveler, having visited 11 countries on three continents; and he’s slowly catching up on all those languages opera singers are supposed to learn.
He met Jacquelyn Abbott (née Mouritsen) in 2017, married her in 2019, and they’ve been singing together ever since.
Education
June 2013 - December 2020 - Private Vocal Instruction, Dr. Harry Dunstan, Arcadia Vocal Academy / American Center for Puccini Studies, Derwood, Maryland
May, 2009 - Bachelor of Science, Information Technology with Honors, United States Military Academy, West Point, New York.
Roles
| Role | Production | Composer | Date |
|---|---|---|---|
| Escamillo | Carmen | Bizet | September 2024 |
| Dr. Spinelloccio / Amantio di Nicolao | Gianni Schicchi | Puccini | July 2024 |
| Schaunard | La bohème | Puccini | September 2023 |
| Ensemble member | Carmen | Bizet | July and August 2022 |
| Scarpia | Tosca | Puccini | (prepared, production cancelled) |
| Michele | Il tabarro | Puccini | January 2018 |
| Guglielmo Wulf | Le Villi | Puccini | December 2016 |
| Herr Colas | Bastien und Bastienne | Mozart | (multiple productions) 2016-2018 |
| Le baron Pictordu | Cendrillon | Viardot | (multiple productions) 2014-2018 |
| St. Thomas | Savior of the World (Wash. DC version) | Scott Knell, ed. | March 2014 & March 2015 |
| Gorgibus; Magistrate | Signor Deluso | Thomas Pasatieri | 2014 |
Selected Arias and Scenes
| Aria | Opera | Composer |
|---|---|---|
| Act II (entire) | La traviata | Verdi |
| Dagli immortali vertici | Attila | Verdi |
| Il balen del suo sorriso | Il trovatore | Verdi |
| Eri tu che macchiavi | Un ballo in maschera | Verdi |
| Cortigiani, vil razza dannata | Rigoletto | Verdi |
| Pari siamo | Rigoletto | Verdi |
| Questo amor vergogna mia | Edgar | Puccini |
| Cruda, funesta smania | Luci di Lammermoor | Donizetti |
| Sì puo? (prologue) | Pagliacci | Leoncavallo |
| Rivolgete a lui lo sguardo | Così fan tutte | Mozart |
| Hai gia vinta la causa | Le nozze di Figaro | Mozart |
Employment History
- January 2021 - Present - Owner and Co-Founder / Voice Instructor, JM Abbott Music, Cache Valley, Utah
- September 2021 - Present - Associate Instructor of Voice, Utah State University, Logan, Utah
- January 2024 - June 2024 - Contract Penetration Tester (1099), LegionX, Remote (Arlington, Virginia)
- June 2023 - Present - Contract Cybersecurity Engineer, Space Dynamics Laboratory, North Logan, Utah
- January 2021 - June 2023 - Senior Cybersecurity Engineer, Space Dynamics Laboratory, North Logan, Utah
- January 2016 - December 2020 - Software Engineer, Contractor for US Federal Gov’t, Greater Washington, DC Area
- October 2011 - December 2015 - Software Engineer, US Federal Government, Greater Washington, DC Area
- May 2009 - October 2011 - First Lieutenant, United States Army - Department of EECS, United States Military Academy, West Point, New York
Professional Skills
- Programming Languages - C/C++ (Windows and Linux), Python, LaTeX
- Technologies - VMWare / vSphere suite, Atlassian suite, Visual Studio, Git, CMake
- Foreign Languages - French and Italian at a basic level (reading)
- Soft Skills - Teaching, presenting, public speaking
Awards
- Army Commendation Medal
- Army Achievement Medal (2 awards)
- National Defense Service Medal
- Global War on Terrorism Service Medal
Certifications
- Certified Information Systems Security Professional (CISSP)
- Member number: 1617780