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 developing career spans the breadth of classical music genres, from opera and oratorio through operetta, art song and new music. She has sung with the Boston Symphony, the Charleston Symphony, Opera in Concert, the Kingston Symphony, Manitoba Opera, and Pax Christi Chorale, 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, Robert Cooper, Wayne Strongman, Ivars Taurins, and Lorraine Vaillancourt.
In the standard repertoire, Lynne's operatic credits include the Slave in Salome with the Boston Symphony Orchestra, Arsace in Rossini's Semiramide 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 Elijah with the Newfoundland Symphony, Mozart's Requiem and J.S. Bach's St. John Passion with Pax Christie Chorale, Beethoven's Symphony No. 9 with the Kingston Symphony, Messiah with the Charleston Symphony Orchestra, and Mahler's Das Lied von der Erde with the Eastman Faculty Players.
Lynne has a particular interest in music of our time and has premiered numerous works, including an oratorio by Chicago Symphony composer-in-residence Augusta Read Thomas. Last season included multi-faceted performances in three new short operas with Tapestry New Opera Works. This highly successful show, entitled Opera to Go, debuted in Toronto, was later broadcast on CBC Radio, and subsequently toured to the Algoma Fall Festival. Other performances include four separate Canadian operas for Opera in Concert, a recital at Boston Conservatory's Contemporary Music Festival with the Florestan Recital Project, and a performance of Andrew Ager's Ellis Portal with the Talisker Players.
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. She is an active teacher of voice, and was formerly on faculty at the State University of New York College at Fredonia, and Nazareth College in Rochester, NY. For upcoming performances and additional information, please visit her website at www.lynnemcmurtry.com.
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 developing career spans the breadth of classical music genres, from opera and oratorio through operetta, art song and new music. She has sung with the Boston Symphony, the Charleston Symphony, Opera in Concert, the Kingston Symphony, Manitoba Opera, and Pax Christi Chorale, 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, Robert Cooper, Wayne Strongman, Ivars Taurins, and Lorraine Vaillancourt.