“This was Peter Marks’ first appearance with the Virginia Opera as artistic director and conductor. His command of the score was dynamic and introspective…. Under Mark’s capable leadership the total musical fabric was well-coordinated.”
Grover J. Oberle, The Ledger-Star
Review of “La Traviata”, June 14, 1975

“Artistic director and conductor Peter Mark and stage director Farrar have put together a plausible, vigorous production that fairly teems with passion and is altogether satisfying. Mark’s fine, sensitive reading of the appealing Act I prelude was a clue as to what could be expected musically. His no-nonsense interpretation demanded much from the orchestra, and he got a great deal in return.”
Gus Edwards, The Times-Herald
Review of “La Traviata,” June 14, 1975

“A wildly cheering audience greeted the sold-out Virginia Opera Association’s production of Verdi’s ‘La Traviata.’ … Conductor Peter Mark, debuting as artistic director and conductor, assembled a superb cast onstage … His pacing greatly contributed to the opera’s continuing excitement.”
Ira Lieberman, Richmond Times-Dispatch
Review of “La Traviata,” June 16, 1975

“I think I have never before seen an opera so eagerly and enthusiastically welcomed as ‘La Traviata,’ the second production of the new-founded Virginia Opera Association, was in Norfolk, the week before last. The enthusiasm was not misplaced…. Peter Mark, the artistic director of Virginia Opera, made his debut as an operatic conductor with this ‘Traviata’ … he showed an easy command both of the score and of his forces, and inspired confidence.”
Andrew Porter, The New Yorker
Review of “La Traviata,” June 30, 1975

“It seems to me the Virginia Opera has wisely chosen to avoid the star system and to concentrate, instead, on finding outstanding young professional talent on the way up. Peter Mark was enormously successful in this endeavor in his “Traviata” production in June and it looks as if he will be again with ‘Tosca’.”
Carl Dolmetsch, The Virginia Gazette
Sept. 26, 1975

“This city and the constellation of cities surrounding it, without any opera to speak of for years, has enthusiastically taken to a new company that combines local talent with lead singers from around the country. The Virginia Opera Association turned away more than 200 people from a January Bohème and sold out two June Traviata’s four days before the opening…. Peter Mark, a violist with a broad concert career and a yen for opera – as a boy he sang the Shepherd in a Met Tosca in 1955 – became artistic director in March and conducted La Traviata… Mark’s debut as conductor was an unqualified success. There has been so little opera here in recent years that local musicians have not had much experience, so their performance – in the standard reduced orchestration by Giuseppe Bamboschek – was a tribute to Mark’s ability.”
Tim Morton, Opera News
September 1975

“Once again conductor Peter Mark has taken a masterpiece, in this case, Giuseppe Verdi’s ‘Il Trovatore” and given it a performance of which he – and the company – can be proud…. The Virginia Opera Association is still such a new joy for us. But its survival will depend on the ability of its music and artistic director and its stage director to satisfy us with a complete performance – an opera performance which is exciting as a musical/theatrical experience. I think Peter Mark is capable of providing this…. Peter Mark is providing more than just a scenario for good singers. He is an excellent conductor whose vitality and exuberance are hypnotic. He will give us continuing good theater.”
Vianne Webb, Daily Press
Review of “Il Trovatore”, Jan. 7, 1977

“The Virginia Opera Association’s production was well-prepared and well-rehearsed; the cast was young, handsome and talented; the conductor, Peter Mark (artistic director of the company and husband of the composer), had a firm grasp on the score. The performance was tops by any standard.”
The New York Times
Review of “Mary, Queen of Scots”, April 1978

“Virginia Opera Association, in just five years, has grown into one of the best regional companies in the country … The VOA performed as if Christmas, or at least A Christmas Carol, comes but once a lifetime.”
Annalyn Swan, Newsweek Magazine
Review of “A Christmas Carol”, Dec. 17, 1979

“… holding everything together with skill was the conducting of Peter Mark.“
Bernard Holland, The New York Times
Review of World Premiere of “Harriet, A Woman Called Moses”, March 4, 1985

“Puccini's opera thrives less on subtlety than on sheer energy, and there was plenty of that coming from both sides of the footlights. Act I's every interpretive challenge was met by a hurtling, flattening enthusiasm from Peter Mark's orchestra and chorus. Indeed, until things calmed down in succeeding acts, one heard not so much an opera as an opera company shouting in celebration over its new and happy estate. If this ‘Turandot’ was almost violently intense, it was also pretty much under control. Mr. Mark, the company's general director, conducted an alert chorus and a pit orchestra that boomed and blasted with considerable skill.”
Bernard Holland, The New York Times
Review of “Turandot”, Nov. 22, 1993

“Conductor Peter Mark elicited a sparkling performance from the orchestra.”
David Nicholson, Daily Press
Review of “Don Giovanni”, Feb. 27, 1994

“[Thea Musgrave’s] husband, Peter Mark, is the general director and principal conductor of the Virginia Opera and this is the fourth of her operas he has presented …. Mr. Mark took it on, led a polished performance, and made certain that it was given a striking production by Lillian Garrett-Groag …“
Edward Rothstein, The New York Times
Review of World Premiere of “Simon Bolivar”, Jan. 27, 1995

“The lilting and delicate score is haunting under the masterful hand of Peter Mark.”
M.K.F. White, The Richmond State
Review of “Lucia di Lammermoor”, Oct. 1996

“A superb reading of Donizetti’s score from the orchestra was conducted by Peter Mark.”
Clarke Bustard, The Washington Post
Review of “Lucia di Lammermoor”, Oct. 1996

“… Virginia Opera conductor and artistic director Peter Mark ... summoned ... glistening playing from the first-desk musicians, showed a remarkable command of the score's architecture throughout the performance, and was rightly cheered to the rafters at the conclusion of the long afternoon.”
Tim Page, The Washington Post
Review of "Die Walküre", Oct. 10, 2002

“[Peter] Mark seemed to revel in Giordano’s colorful orchestration and sweeping melodies, eliciting an accomplished performance from the orchestra ...”
Paul Sayegh, The Virginian-Pilot
Review of "Andrea Chenier", Jan. 26, 2003

“Virginia Opera took a step in a new direction Friday with its production of Handel’s Julius Caesar … This work was not treated as a historic fossil by conductor Peter Mark, or by the cast and production crew. It was given a fresh vitality with singing that was technically superb and emotionally moving. And the ever-changing visual delights matched the spectacle of the singing.”
Lee Teply, The Virginian-Pilot
Review of “Julius Caesar”, January 1997

“Maestro Peter Mark led an ensemble of nineteen with customary skill, shaping a balanced sound that revealed the richness, range and variety of Handel’s orchestration.”
Sorab Modi, Opera News
Review of “Julius Caesar”, May 1997

“The Virginia Opera’s production of Beethoven’s FIDELIO is the most soulful and fulfilling treatment of a music drama it has staged in years. Peter Mark leads a cast of singers, from leading voices to choristers, and the orchestra musicians in throwing themselves into the spirit of the work, performing as if life and liberty were literally at stake.”
Clarke Bustard, Richmond Times-Dispatch
Review of “Fidelio”, March 27, 2004

“Peter Mark's conducting brought out the music's exotic color, rhythmic vitality and overall formal cohesion.”
Joseph McLellan, The Washington Post
Review of “Turandot”, Oct. 18, 2004

“The highest thrill point of "Tristan" came with the orchestra. Under Peter Mark's baton, it performed brilliantly. The sounds were strong, lush, convincing, commanding, and overwhelmingly passionate. The musicians have never sounded as cohesive and as simpatico to the demands of the score as in this performance. Mark hit the mark totally in this most total and poetic-dramatic of renderings. It just couldn't have been finer musically and helped make "Tristan" a success on anyone's level.”
John Shulson, The Virginia Gazette
Review of "Tristan & Isolde", Feb. 3, 2005

“With Artistic Director Peter Mark at the helm of the orchestra, Verdi's score took its place onstage as though it were a character. At times it functioned as the narrator, but more often a loving duet partner. The orchestra excelled at the dual roles, as it played with authoritative drama and supportive warmth.”
Grace Jean, The Washington Post
Review of “La Traviata”, Oct. 17, 2005

“Conductor and Artistic Director Peter Mark maintained uninterrupted momentum and excitement, winning instantaneous responses from singers, dancers and orchestra alike.”
Cecelia Porter, The Washington Post
Review of “Romeo & Juliet”, Dec. 5, 2005

“Just when you think there can't possibly be anything new to see or hear in ‘Carmen,’ along comes Virginia Opera with a sparkling production that is equal parts glitter and nuance…. Artistic Director Peter Mark conducted with his usual sensitivity to pacing: very quick in fast passages, nicely stretched out in emotive ones…. Like Carmen's sorcerous rose, Virginia Opera's bewitching production was spellbinding.” 
Mark J. Estren, The Washington Post
Review of “Carmen”, Oct. 16, 2006

“The lithe baroque orchestra played with simplicity and intensity, with Laura Friesen’s harpsichord brisk or plaintive as needed. The recorders brought superb musicianship to the period sound. Like the singers’ stylish ensemble work, the players heightened every affect under Mark’s intelligent baton.”
M.D. Ridge, Port Folio Weekly
Review of “Agrippina”, Feb. 6, 2007

“Artistic Director Peter Mark led members of the Virginia Orchestra in a gorgeously phrased and played treatment of the score. His alert and flexible conducting kept tight coordination between the pit and the stage.”
William T. Walker, Classical Voice of North Carolina
Review of “Tales of Hoffmann”, Oct. 21, 2007

“Peter Mark, once again, led a spirited and tight reading of the score. Maestro Mark has yet to let me down (his Norma a few years back still stands out for its brilliance). Here, the music soared and there was no doubt that Mark, in complete control, was responsible for its delivery.”
Joseph Giannino, OperaOnline.us
Review of “Eugene Onegin”, March 2, 2008

“There was a powerful bond between pit and stage: The Richmond Symphony, under the baton of conductor Peter Mark, was in perfect sync with the principals. Not an errant note fell out of place.”
B.J. Atkinson, Port Folio Weekly
Review of “Lucia di Lammermoor”, April 8, 2008

“Conductor Peter Mark held a strong but graceful hand over the Richmond Symphony Orchestra players manning the pit and showed a sterling command in keeping voices, music and movement in their proper places.”
Walt Amacker, Richmond Times-Dispatch
Review of “Lucia di Lammermoor”, April 13, 2008