Born: June 4, 1930 (New York, NY)

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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Review Excerpt From The New York Times, December 14, 1955

Music: Contraltos' Debut; Mary MacKenzie, Winner of Naumburg Award, Bows at Town Hall Recital

"Mary MacKenzie, a New York-born contralto, made her debut yesterday afternoon in Town Hall as the 1955 winner of the Walter W. Naumburg Foudation award..Like many previous Naumburg winners, Miss MacKenzie brought a gratifying degree of professionalism to her work. Her naturally attractive voice was well trianed, her diction excellent, her musical approach serious. Her program, too, was well chosen. It consisted of Gluck,Durante and Peri, Brahms, three Faure songs, the "Quatre Chansons" of Honegger and an American group by Barber, Dello Joio, Wagenaar and Duke." H.C.S.

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