Although she recently had an upper milestone birthday, there is nothing about her sound or manner that suggests that this world-famous, honey-toned and much revered American mezzo-soprano is still not the young woman who started on a spectacular singing career in her teens. Her eyes twinkle and her voice sounds as smooth as it must have sounded decades ago when she went international. Only what she says gives away the long and illustrious career. She is, in fact, at work on a 20-year autobiographical update. Marilyn Horne, who has been running the Marilyn Horne Foundation for aspiring young singers, and who works long summers as Vocal Program Director at the Music Academy of the West in Santa Barbara–that is, when she's not also teaching in Oklahoma, Chicago, performing in special benefits for important social and musical causes, and leading Master Classes at Carnegie Hall—knows what it means to study singing properly, and she is as firmly dedicated to providing the best advice she can for young singers as she is enthusiastic about building a wider concert and opera audience.

Her own life, she feels, was charmed: she came from a loving, nurturing family with a tenor father who encouraged her early and constantly. And then in junior high, high school and at the University of Southern California, not to mention in her church, she found great mentors, such as Roger Wagner, Royal Stanton, William Vennard, and Lotte Lehmann. Technique is important, genes count, but it is extremely important "to choose coaches wisely." She laughs when asked about starting out as a soprano. When you're a girl, that's all you are! But obviously this grand dame who opened the Met season of 1972--3 as Carmen and sang the first Handel Rinaldo ever performed there found her niche early. She adds, by the way, that though she never knew she was doing anything special, it turns out that she was breaking barriers against women being accompanists when she appeared with the "pioneering" Gwendolyn Koldofsky.

Despite a powerhouse career, Marilyn Horne wears her expertise with ease and grace. She prefers the word "coach" to master class teacher, for example, and thinks of herself more as a compassionate advisor than as a pedagogue. Students call and email her all the time. She also knows she can capitalize on her long relationships with famous conductors and recommend promising students. She is "hard nosed," she says of herself, particularly about which schools her Foundation will partner with. Many people start out singing too early (five should be the earliest), too much (choral work is "not the best thing for a soloist") and too loudly ("screaming"). Of course, not much good music is being written for singers today and too many singers are foolishly "wedded to the microphone." Central in conveying her message is her Foundation whose mission is to keep alive the "precious and wonderful" vocal recital tradition of singer and accompanist. Active in close to 40 cities, she can be heard in New York in Horne Foundation-sponsored concerts such as "On Wings of Song" an annual series of concerts offered at the Kosciuszko Foundation.

Like many others, the diva wishes classical music had more support in this country. So many wonderful orchestras are folding, she notes, so many high school programs with glee clubs, choral societies, bands, orchestras, drama groups and a cappella choirs are no longer available. She was fortunate. Though she never had a patron, she did have the schools. Now movies rule, and TV and computers. No technophobe, however, Marilyn Horne thinks super titles a great idea. "Go to live performances," she urges (she herself has done over 1,300 concerts, mostly opera). The hope is invoked as a mantra. "Go to live performances."#

The Marilyn Horne Foundation can be reached at 250 W. 57th Street, Suite 603, New York 10019 or 212-582-2000, and readers are encouraged to check the website: www.marilynhornefdn.org