Although she recently
had an upper milestone birthday, there is nothing about
her sound or manner that suggests that this world-famous,
honey-toned and much revered American mezzo-soprano is
still not the young woman who started on a spectacular
singing career in her teens. Her eyes twinkle and her voice
sounds as smooth as it must have sounded decades ago when
she went international. Only what she says gives away the
long and illustrious career. She is, in fact, at work on
a 20-year autobiographical update. Marilyn Horne, who has
been running the Marilyn Horne Foundation for aspiring
young singers, and who works long summers as Vocal Program
Director at the Music Academy of the West in Santa Barbara–that
is, when she's not also teaching in Oklahoma, Chicago, performing
in special benefits for important social and musical causes,
and leading Master Classes at Carnegie Hall—knows what
it means to study singing properly, and she is as firmly
dedicated to providing the best advice she can for young
singers as she is enthusiastic about building a wider concert
and opera audience.
Her own life, she feels,
was charmed: she came from a loving, nurturing family with
a tenor father who encouraged her early and constantly.
And then in junior high, high school and at the University
of Southern California, not to mention in her church, she
found great mentors, such as Roger Wagner, Royal Stanton,
William Vennard, and Lotte Lehmann. Technique is important,
genes count, but it is extremely important "to
choose coaches wisely." She laughs when asked about
starting out as a soprano. When you're a girl, that's all
you are! But obviously this grand dame who opened the Met
season of 1972--3 as Carmen and
sang the first Handel Rinaldo ever
performed there found her niche early. She adds, by the way,
that though she never knew she was doing anything special,
it turns out that she was breaking barriers against women
being accompanists when she appeared with the "pioneering" Gwendolyn
Koldofsky.
Despite a powerhouse
career, Marilyn Horne wears her expertise with ease and
grace. She prefers the word "coach" to
master class teacher, for example, and thinks of herself
more as a compassionate advisor than as a pedagogue. Students
call and email her all the time. She also knows she can capitalize
on her long relationships with famous conductors and recommend
promising students. She is "hard nosed," she says
of herself, particularly about which schools her Foundation
will partner with. Many people start out singing too early
(five should be the earliest), too much (choral work is "not
the best thing for a soloist") and too loudly ("screaming").
Of course, not much good music is being written for singers
today and too many singers are foolishly "wedded to
the microphone." Central in conveying her message is
her Foundation whose mission is to keep alive the "precious
and wonderful" vocal recital tradition of singer and
accompanist. Active in close to 40 cities, she can be heard
in New York in Horne Foundation-sponsored concerts such as "On
Wings of Song" an annual series of concerts offered
at the Kosciuszko Foundation.
Like many others, the
diva wishes classical music had more support in this country.
So many wonderful orchestras are folding, she notes, so
many high school programs with glee clubs, choral societies,
bands, orchestras, drama groups and a cappella choirs are
no longer available. She was fortunate. Though she never
had a patron, she did have the schools. Now movies rule,
and TV and computers. No technophobe, however, Marilyn
Horne thinks super titles a great idea. "Go
to live performances," she urges (she herself has done
over 1,300 concerts, mostly opera). The hope is invoked as
a mantra. "Go to live performances."#
The Marilyn Horne Foundation
can be reached at 250 W. 57th Street, Suite 603, New
York 10019 or 212-582-2000, and readers are encouraged
to check the website: www.marilynhornefdn.org