Marilyn Tyler

Marilyn Tyler is an American operatic soprano, former director of Opera Studies and Emeritus Faculty Member at the University of New Mexico. As a soloist, she worked with many notable conductors such as Leonard Bernstein, Sir Georg Solti, Bernard Haitink, Jean Fournet, Charles Groves, Brian Priestman, Colin Davis, Carlo Maria Giulini, Otto Ackermann, Erich Leinsdorf, Christoph von Dohnányi, and Charles Munch.

The major orchestras she sang with include The Boston Symphony, The London Philharmonic, The Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, The Rotterdam Philharmonic, Radio Filharmonisch Orkest, The New York Philharmonic, Concertgebouw, The Vienna Philharmonic, The BBC Symphony, The Cologne Radio Symphony, The Vienna Radio Orchestra, The Saint Cecilia Orchestra, The San Diego Symphony, The Canadian Symphony, and The Frankfurt Symphony.

In her 25 years as a performer she sang over seventy opera roles in eight languages. Notable debuts included Constanza in The Abduction from the Seraglio at Rome Opera, Violetta in La traviata with the Royal Nederlandse Opera, and Susanna in Le nozze di Figaro at the Holland Festival, where the cast included Elizabeth Schwarzkopf as the Countess, Hermann Prey as Figaro, and Eberhard Wächter as the Count. She created numerous roles in world premiere operas, such as "Die Schwarze Spinne" by Josef Matthias Hauer, "Martin Korda" by Henk Badings, and "Raskolnikoff" by Heinrich Sütermeister, to name a few. Tyler also sang and recorded many works with the BBC, and received the UNESCO Award for the best recording of a contemporary composition for orchestra and soprano.

Tyler received a stellar review in the January 2010 edition of Opera News for her 1965 recording of Handel's "Serse", in which she sang the role of Atalanta. The opera was remastered and released by Deutsche Grammophon. The article said "Marilyn Tyler is superb as Romilda's sister Atalanta, her dusky soprano providing a clear contrast to Popp's gleaming tone, and she exhibits an impressive range up to a brilliantly finessed high D in the final cadenza of "Voi mi dite."

In the late 1970's, Tyler moved to Tehran, Iran to direct for the Western-style Iran Opera, created by Empress Farah Diba. After the Iranian Revolution of 1979, she remained in Iran for nine frightening months before escaping into Pakistan, where she became the director of the U.S. Information Service's Pakistan-American Cultural Center in Karachi. Tyler remained there for two years until the U.S. Embassy in Karachi was attacked. She returned to the U.S., and taught for a short time at Jacksonville University in Florida before entering into her position at the University of New Mexico.

Sources

• [1], Albuquerque Journal Special Sections, August 21, 2011
• Faculty page, University of New Mexico
• Time Magazine, "Music: Withering Paradise?", May. 28, 1956
• Opera News, "HANDEL: Serse

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Name	Tyler, Marilyn
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