Opera Legend Marilyn Horne Leads Oberlin Master Class Dec. 9

Marilyn Horne, the celebrated mezzo-soprano who has been called perhaps “the most influential singer in American history” by Opera News, returns to Oberlin in December to work with voice students as part of the Artist Recital Series.

Horne’s visit will be highlighted by a public master class at 2:30 p.m. Sunday, December 9, in Finney Chapel.

Featured singers will include Helena Colindres, Magdalena Kuźma, Gabriela Linares, and Shawn Roth. They will perform a wide range of repertoire that includes operatic works by Bellini, Bizet, Purcell, and Mozart, among others. Alexis Reed and Jedidiah Rellihan will be alternates for the Sunday class.

Tickets are $5; admission is free with an Oberlin College ID and for subscribers to the Artist Recital Series. Tickets may be purchased online using Oberlin's Arts Guide. The master class will be streamed live at oberlin.edu.

Horne’s annual residency at Oberlin is made possible by philanthropist Stephen Rubin, president and publisher of Henry Holt & Co. and a longtime friend of Horne’s. In 2013, Rubin established the Marilyn Horne Professorship and Residency Fund. In addition to bringing Horne to campus, the fund provides financial assistance for career-advancement opportunities to the most promising voice students in the conservatory. Those students earn the designation "Rubin Scholars."

Past recipients of the award include Meryl Dominguez ’14, Emily Hopkins ’15, Joshua Blue ’16, Siena Miller ’16, Juliana Zara ’16, Amber Monroe ’17, and Jesse Mashburn '18. The most recent honorees are Nicholas Music '18 and Elise Thora Volkmann '18, both of whom earned the distinction after performing for Horne during her April 2018 visit to campus.

The 141st season of the Artist Recital Series continues in the new year with performances by the Doric String Quartet (February 22), mezzo-soprano Joyce DiDonato's Songplay (February 27), pianist Piotr Anderszewski (April 3), and the Spring Quartet, featuring drummer Jack DeJohnette, saxophonist Joe Lovano, bassist Esperanza Spalding, and pianist Leo Genovese (April 17).