Born: June 4, 1930

Died: February 6, 2024

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Mary MacKenzie, mezzo-soprano, earned her degrees from The Juilliard School and in 1959. She attended master classes in Bayreuth and in Chicago, she sang Mary opposite of Birgit Nilsson in Wagner's "The Flying Dutchman."

In 1955, she was a winner of the Walter W. Naumburg Foundation's competition, and in 1960, she won the Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions. Twice she was awarded the Martha Baird Rockefeller Fund grant and was a recipient of the Sullivan Award.

She performed with: the Bach Choir of Bethlehem, Dallas Opera, Lyric Opera of Chicago, Metropolitan Opera, NBC Opera Theatre, New Orleans Opera, San Diego Opera, Santa Fe Opera, among others.

She was the former head of vocal pedagogy at San Diego State University where she taught for more than 20 years. She currently teaches private voice lessons at Point Loma Nazarene University. In addition, she is the administrative Vice President of the Board of the National Association of Teachers of Singing (NATS). For five years, she previously served as the Vice President of NATS.

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