ARTIST PROFILE

Marilyn Horne

BIOGRAPHY

Marilyn Horne's five-decade career in opera, concert, and recital has been celebrated throughout the world for the power and artistry of her unique and dazzling mezzo-soprano coloratura, and for her revival of many forgotten Rossini, Handel, Vivaldi, and Bellini operas. "One of the greatest operatic mezzo sopranos in history," Horne launched the Marilyn Horne Foundation in 1994 to support young singers and the art of the song. She is Vocal Program Director at the Music Academy of the West in Santa Barbara. In addition to her on... more-going teaching and master class activities, since 2000 Ms. Horne is presented each season in three new programs of songs, including "An Evening of Popular American Classics" with Tony award winning conductor and pianist Don Pippin, "Just Between Friends" with Barbara Cook, and "Stephen Foster: Songs of America," which opened the 2002-03 season of the New Jersey Symphony Orchestra. In December, 2005, Sony-BMG re-released two of Marilyn Horne's most beloved recordings, "Christmas with Marilyn Horne and the Morman Tabernacle Choir" and "Rockabye Baby; Lullabies from Around the World."

The 2006-2007 season includes a performance of "Just Between Friends" with Barbara Cook at the Clarice Smith Performing Arts Center and a solo holiday concert with the Detroit Symphony Orchestra, as well as multiple teaching residencies. Miss Horne made her Kimmel Center debut in Philadelphia in spring, 2005, presenting "An Evening of American Popular Songs," in honor of the Philadelphia Arts Alliance's 90th Anniversary. She conducted her first Master Class at the Manhattan School of Music in New York City and repeated her teaching residencies at both the University of Oklahoma and at the Académie Musicale de Villecroze in Paris.

The 2003-2004 season marked several milestones for Marilyn Horne, including her 70th birthday on January 16th, 2004, the 50th anniversary of her operatic debut with the Los Angeles Guild Opera, and the 10th Anniversary of both the Marilyn Horne Foundation and her position as chair of the voice department at the Music Academy of the West, of which she is an alumnus. Throughout all of these celebrations, she continues to be one of America's most beloved artists, and one of the busiest, with a full schedule of concerts, recitals and teaching activities. Universal Classics released a 2 cd compilation, "Just for the Record; the Golden Voice of Marilyn Horne," in 2003 and her updated biography, "The Song Continues," was released by Baskerville Press in 2004.