VISI Faculty: Lynne McMurtry
Hailed
as “a force of nature” (Toronto Star) and “an actress
of immense talent” (Opera Canada), mezzo-soprano Lynne McMurtry
is an exciting and vibrant presence on the concert and operatic stage.
Her growing career spans the breadth of classical music genres, from
opera and oratorio through art song and new music. She has sung with
the Boston Symphony, the Charleston Symphony, the Winnipeg Symphony,
Opera Ontario, and Manitoba Opera, among others, and at many of the major
festivals, including Tanglewood, Ravinia, Banff, and Aldeburgh. Conductors
with whom she has performed include Seiji Ozawa, Robert Spano, Simon
Kenway, Howard Dyck, Kevin Mallon, Wayne Strongman, Ivars Taurins, and
Lorraine Vaillancourt.
In the standard repertoire, her operatic credits include the Slave in Salome with the Boston Symphony Orchestra, Arsace in Rossini’s Semiramide and Mme. de Croissy in Poulenc's Dialogues des Carmelites with Opera in Concert, Olga in Evgeny Onegin at Aldeburgh, and the Third Lady in The Magic Flute with Manitoba Opera. Her oratorio performances include Beethoven’s Symphony No. 9 with the Kingston Symphony, Mozart’s Requiem and J.S. Bach’s St. John Passion with Pax Christi Chorale, Messiah with the Charleston Symphony Orchestra and the Kitchener Waterloo Philharmonic Chorus, Elijah with the Newfoundland Symphony, and Mahler’s Das Lied von der Erde with the Eastman Faculty Players.
In the 2005-2006 season, Lynne made her debuts with the Winnipeg Symphony in songs of Gustav Mahler, and with Symphony New Brunswick in Messiah. She returned to Opera in Concert to sing Roberto in Vivaldi’s La Griselda, and will record both that opera and a disc of Vivaldi’s sacred music with Aradia Ensemble this season. Her performances of the song repertoire continue to attract attention; a recent recital, which explored the poetry of Walt Whitman set by composers including Rorem, Bernstein, and Toronto composer James Rolfe, earned her a rave review in the Toronto Star, which stated that “Art doesn’t get any more moving than this.”
Her interest in contemporary music extends across the genres, and her many premieres include the world premiere of Conquering the Fury of Oblivion by Chicago Symphony composer-in-residence Augusta Read Thomas, the Canadian premiere of Ned Rorem’s Evidence Not Seen with the Maplewood Artists Collective, and the North American premiere of Judith Weir’s Voice of Desire. In the last few seasons she has been featured in no less than seven Canadian operas, including three premieres. These included her highly acclaimed, multi-faceted performances in the production "Opera to Go" with Tapestry New Opera Works, which toured to the Algoma Fall Festival after its Toronto debut, and was later broadcast on CBC Radio.
Lynne grew up in Vernon, British Columbia, Canada. She holds a Master of Music degree in Performance and Literature from the Eastman School of Music, and an Advanced Master of Music degree in Opera from the Royal Scottish Academy of Music and Drama in Glasgow, where she was a winner of the Opera Trust Scholarship. For upcoming performances and additional information, please visit her website at www.lynnemcmurtry.com.