Marcus Shields is a visual artist, musician, and stage director working in classical music and new media. His work, which ranges from audio engineering to filmmaking to large scale, multi media performance installations, is about connecting audiences to classical music.

He has created / directed performance pieces for the Curtis Institute of Music, The Juilliard School, The Chautauqua Institute, Des Moines Metro Opera, the Arizona Opera, the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra, Cincinnati Opera, College Conservatory of Music at UC (CCM), Wolf Trap Opera, The Merola Opera, the Madison Theatre. His video pieces and photography have been shown at the Center for Performance Research, the Here Arts Center, The JACK theatre and as part of the Prototype Festival in NYC.

In addition to directing, Shields has co-founded multiple companies including OSSIA productions, AlexanderJane creative, UpUntilNow collective, and Catapult Opera. For Catapult Opera he served as Executive Director from 2018 - 2021 during which time he created the Accelerate Competition and commissioned “The Glitch”, an opera by Nico Muhly and Greg Pierce.

As of 2024, he has embarked on a long term social media project exploring directing, opera, and methods of creative production. Upcoming projects include the world premiere of an opera by David Hertzberg with the Rochester Philharmonic, a new production of Nozze di Figaro with the Curtis Institute of Music, a production of Madame Butterfly for the Colorado Springs Philharmonic, and an adaptation of Peter Grimes to be produced in NYC in spring of 2025.