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The Pulitzer Prize- and Grammy Award-winning operas of Mark Campbell are among the most successful in the contemporary canon. Mark has created 45 opera librettos, lyrics for 7 musicals, and text for 12 song cycles and 7 oratorios, including Silent Night, The Shining, A Nation of Others, Elizabeth Cree, As One, The (R)evolution of Steve Jobs, and Sanctuary Road. In 2020, he created the Campbell Opera Librettist Prize, the first and only award for opera librettists in the history of opera. Mark received the 2025 Lifetime Achievement Award from the National Opera Association and was inducted into the highly prestigious OPERA America Hall of Fame in 2026.

The Pulitzer Prize- and Grammy Award-winning operas of librettist/lyricist Mark Campbell are among the most successful in the contemporary canon, praised for their ingenuity, their stylistic and thematic diversity, and for the direct, emotional connection they make with audiences. Mark has created 45 opera librettos, lyrics for 7 musicals, and text for 12 song cycles and 7 oratorios. His works include Silent Night, The Shining, Elizabeth Cree, As One, A Nation of Others, The (R)evolution of Steve Jobs, Sanctuary Road, Edward Tulane, A Thousand Acres, The Cook-Off, The Manchurian Candidate, Later the Same Evening, and Songs from an Unmade Bed. In 2020, he created the Campbell Opera Librettist Prize, the first and only award for opera librettists in the history of the art form. The award is given annually and administered by OPERA America. In 2022, he helped create the True Voice Award, administered by Washington National Opera, to help with the training of transgender opera singers. Mark received the 2025 Lifetime Achievement Award from the National Opera Association and was inducted into the OPERA America Hall of Fame in 2026.

The Pulitzer Prize- and Grammy Award-winning operas of librettist/lyricist Mark Campbell are among the most successful in the contemporary canon, praised for their ingenuity, their stylistic and thematic diversity, and for the direct, emotional connection they make with audiences.

Mark has created 45 opera librettos, lyrics for 7 musicals, and text for 12 song cycles and 7 oratorios. His works include Silent Night, The Shining, A Nation of Others, Elizabeth Cree, As One, The (R)evolution of Steve Jobs, Sanctuary Road, A Thousand Acres, Edward Tulane, Unruly Sun, The Cook-Off, The Manchurian Candidate, Stone Soup, Later the Same Evening, The Nefarious, Immoral but Highly Profitable Enterprise of Mr. Burke & Mr. Hare, and Bastianello/Lucrezia, and Songs from an Unmade Bed.

Mark has received many other prestigious prizes for his work, including the first Kleban Foundation Award for Lyricist, four Grammy nominations, two Richard Rodgers Awards from the American Academy of Arts and Letters, three Drama Desk nominations, a Jonathan Larson Foundation Award, a New York Foundation for the Arts Playwriting Fellowship, the first Dominic J. Pelliciotti Award, and a grant from the New York State Council of the Arts.

Recordings of his works include: The (R)evolution of Steve Jobs (Pentatone), The Shining (Pentatone), A Nation of Others (Lexicon Classics), Émigré (Deutsche Grammophon), Sanctuary Road (Naxos), Silent Night (Naxos), As One (Bright Shiny Things), Volpone (Wolf Trap Records), Bastianello/Lucrezia (Bridge), Rappahannock County (Naxos), Later the Same Evening (Albany) and Songs from an Unmade Bed (Ghostlight).

Mark is also an advocate for contemporary American opera and serves as a mentor for future generations of writers through such organizations as the American Opera Project, American Lyric Theatre, and Washington National Opera’s American Opera Initiative. In 2020, he created and funds the Campbell Opera Librettist Prize, the first and only award for opera librettists in the history of the art form. The award is given biennially and administered by OPERA America. In 2022, he helped create and is funding the True Voice Award, administered by Washington National Opera, to help with the training of transgender opera singers.

Mark received the 2025 Lifetime Achievement Award from the National Opera Association and was inducted into the OPERA America Hall of Fame in 2026.