Over the years, Oberlin has welcomed many great performers and Marilyn Horne, one of the preeminent mezzo-sopranos of the twentieth-century, is among them. Recently, Oberlin was again privileged to have her on campus, albeit as a teacher rather than a performer. Last weekend, Horne visited Oberlin for the third consecutive year as Distinguished Professor of Voice.

From September 28 through October 2, Horne conducted a series of private lessons and master classes as well as two public master classes in Finney Chapel. During her illustrious international career Horne has appeared in every major venue for opera, given countless recitals and made dozens of recordings. In 1966 and 1978, she performed in Oberlin�s Artist Recital Series.

In each public master class, voice majors performed works by a wide range of composers including Handel, Massenet, Strauss and Quilter. Horne sat on stage in an easy chair behind a table while the students sang. She began the class by turning to the audience from her chair and introducing herself and talking as if to a friend, immediately making everyone comfortable � everyone except perhaps the performers. After all, who wouldn�t be a little nervous about singing for Marilyn Horne? In spite of nerves, every student gave a great performance and Horne complimented each singer on performance and talent in a meaningful way, as well as excitedly complimenting two students on their good taste in shoes.

Horne had pointed advice for each student and, when asked to change, every performer was able to adjust after a couple tries (something not always the case at master classes). She had several suggestions that she made to all present, such as making sure they pronounced their words clearly and not did not let their voice fall back, or lose resonance, but she mostly dealt with the specifics of each piece. She also asked each performer to explain the song before singing it.

Horne does not perform in public very often now, and when she does, most of what she sings is �on the lighter side,� like Berlin or Gershwin. Most of her current work is devoted to teaching and to the Marilyn Horne Foundation, which she found in 1993 to help preserve and promote vocal recitals across the country.

Horne works hard to help bring great singing back into the public sphere, and is still quite confident about classical music�s place in society. �Classical music is not going to die out,� Horne said. �It�s too great a thing not to have in your life.� She continued: �Young people settle into [classical music] as they get older.�

Horne�s foundation works to provide young singers with opportunities for giving recitals, and develop outreach programs to schools. Despite her expertise, her foundation deals not with opera, but with vocal recitals

�Opera can take care of itself, but voice recitals are an endangered species,� Horne said.

Besides outreach and promotion, she also believes in the importance of supertitles as an important way to bridge the gap between classical song and the public. If they are put behind the piano and slightly higher than the singer, �it keeps your focus on the face of the singer where it should be, instead of buried in program notes,� she said.

When asked how she enjoyed her time at Oberlin, Horne replied enthusiastically, �The level of the singing is quite high and I�m not just saying that. It�s higher than most places I teach.� Although Oberlin has reaped the rewards of Horne�s preformance in the past, now her talent has been more directly delivered to singers in its Conservatory.