As Don Carlo in La Forza del Destino:

“Among this opera's chief glories are the three big tenor_baritone duets, and they sounded sensational here thanks to the performance's biggest surprise, Mark Rucker as Don Carlo. This exceptional but as yet uncelebrated baritone rejoices in a lean, spinning, perfectly focused tone of unfailing natural beauty and vibrancy, while his grasp of Verdi style and phrasing is all but complete.” - New York Magazine

“A wonderful surprise was baritone Mark Rucker, rarely heard in New York, who offered a moving Carlo, with smooth legato, great eloquence, and nuanced shadings, and rousing, interpolated high notes.”- Classics Today

“Baritone Mark Rucker gave an impressively fierce performance as the obsessive Don Carlo,... Rucker, matched Licitra note for note in their two extended duets.” - New York Times/Associated Press

“Baritone Rucker, as Leonora's brother and Alvaro's sworn enemy, made a fine first impression with a vibrant and biting entrance monologue, “Son Pereda, son ricco d'onore,” in the inn scene. He confirmed it by proffering a commanding third act scena, bringing resonance, sensitivity and flexibility to the cavatina “Urna fatale” and urgency to the recitatives and the cabaletta “Ah, egli e salvo!” ” - TheatreScene.net