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BIO
About
Early Years
Marilyn was born in Aberdeen, Scotland to a dual citizenship family from Scotland and Canada. She began learning piano at 8 years old and went on to learn violin, clarinet, and the dulcimer. Around 14 years old she began to have an interest in singing and started taking voice lessons with Dr. Brenda Rudd as well as performing at her magnet school for the performing arts, Pineville High School. As a senior in highschool she started her professional work in the chorus of Pagliacci with Red River Chorale and sang her first opera role as Esmeralda in The Bartered Bride at Louisiana College Opera.
Undergraduate studies
As she prepared for an undergraduate degree in Vocal Performance, she studied as a private voice student with Dr. Loryn Frey. This degree would take place at Mississippi College- allowing her to study and work with Dr. Viola Dacus, Dr. Mark Nabholz, Warren Jones, Tyler Kemp, Dr. Nicholas Perna, Dr. Benjamin Williams, and Dr. James Sclater. In her time at Mississippi College, she premiered James Sclater’s A Christmas Gift, was the soprano soloist in Vivaldi’s Gloria, Brahm’s Requiem, performed as the First Lady in The Magic Flute, Gretel in Hansel and Gretel, and was a multi-year first place winner and finalist for NATS at the state, regional, and national level. In her final year she sang with the Mississippi Symphony Orchestra and Chorus as the soprano soloist in Haydn’s Creation and was awarded the biennial 2019 Leontyne Price Scholarship.
Post-Graduate
After graduating with her bachelors, Marilyn took a year to audition and search for Graduate degree programs. During this time, she took on a full-time glass artist position at Pearl River Glass Studios making stained glass windows for churches. She sang as the soprano soloist in her first ever Handel's Messiah and put on an art song lecture recital at the gallery exhibition opening of Clocked Out!.
Marilyn later received a full tuition scholarship and graduate assistantship at the University of Florida as well as a staff singer position at Holy Trinity Episcopal Church. Continuing her studies with a Masters of Music, Marilyn worked with Dr. John Lowe, Chris Goddard, Dr. Elizabeth Graham, Scott Wilson, and Dr. Anthony Offerle. Through Covid restrictions she worked with Marcus Rhodes, Anthony Offerle, and Brian Hargrove to have a fully socially distanced and recorded version of Menotti’s The Telephone. Also during her time at UF she performed as Mrs. Nordstrom in A Little Night Music, Despina in Così fan tutte, and organized a new music recital featuring the music of Jane Kozhevnikova.
Today
Since graduating with her Masters, Marilyn now frequently performs in the Central Florida area. Her recent engagements include Milada in the premiere of Unbroken: The Anthemic Life of Milada Horakova, Zerlina in Don Giovanni, Micaëla in Carmen, La Maestra delle Novizie and Prima Sorella Cercatrice in Suor Angelica. She has also done background vocals and chorus work on Sarah Brightman’s A Christmas Symphony Tour, Andrea Bocelli’s Valentines Tour, and SQUARE ENIX productions NieR: Automata Orchestra Concert.
In recent years Marilyn has been branching out, pursuing a career as a multi-genre vocalist singing jazz in popular Gainesville jazz scenes, returning to her musical theatre roots, and joining a progressive rock/ metal band, Apex. She was a featured guest vocalist on albums in rock (Paul Richards), metalcore (Obsidian Soul), classical (Jane Kozhevnikova), and jazz (Ed Legare) and is currently working on recording Apex's premiere album.
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