One of America’s most beloved artists, mezzo-soprano Marilyn Horne has conquered virtually every major opera house in every corner of the repertory, from Handel and Rossini to Berg and Bernstein. She studied voice with William Vennard and repertory with Gwendolyn Koldofsky – her accompanist for ten years while at the University of South California. During that time, she also participated in master classes with Lotte Lehmann.
At the age of twenty, she made her operatic debut with the Los Angeles Guild Opera. Her early operatic career included three years at the Gelsenkirchen Municipal Opera in Germany. Since then, she has performed over 1,300 times and been awarded many prizes including four Grammy Awards. She celebrated twenty-six years as a leading lady at the Metropolitan Opera and was honored at the San Francisco Opera for her thirty-nine seasons there in 1999. Her many academic awards include numerous honorary doctorates and she was inducted into the American Classical Music Hall of Fame in 1999.
Today, Marilyn Horne is the Vocal Program Director of the Music Academy of the West, in Santa Barbara, California. She has also set up the Marilyn Horne Founda tion, which helps to support young singers. Her last solo classical recital was on November 28, 1999, at the Chicago Symphony Center, and the very last time she performed was on January 16, 2000, at the Marilyn Horne Foundation concert at Carnegie Hall.
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