# Marilyn Horne Song Competition

The Marilyn Horne Song Competition is an annual competition for participants of the voice and piano programs at the Music Academy of The West.

## Name

The Competition was launched in 1997 as the Marilyn Horne Foundation Vocal Competition and held by the Marilyn Horne Foundation. In 2010 the foundation’s programs became part of the Weill Music Institute at Carnegie Hall. The Competition is since being held by the Music Academy of the West under its current name.

## Overview

The competition is held in front of a jury and a public audience. Singers perform three songs, one of which has to be in English. The pianists accompany at least one of the singers. Winning singers and pianists can, but don't have to have performed together. The winners receive a monetary prize and the opportunity to perform in a prestigious venue, among other things.
The competition commemorates Gwendolyn Koldofsky, who established the first Department of Accompanying at the University of Southern California in 1947. Marilyn Horne recalls Kodofsky as “Teacher, mentor, accompanist, and my dear friend.” Together they had toured for 10 years.

## List of winners

| Year | Singer | Voice type | Pianist | Jury members |
| 1998 | Isabel Bayrakdarian | soprano | Spencer Meyer | |
| 1999 | Dina Kuznetsova | soprano | | |
| 2000 | Liesel Fedkenheuer | mezzo-soprano | Spencer Meyer | |
| 2000 | Nicolai Janitzky | baritone | Ji Young Lee | |
| 2001 | Ramon Diggs | tenor | Nino Sanikidze | |
| 2002 | Deborah Domanski | mezzo-soprano | Jerome Tan | Marilyn Horne, Michael Benchetrit, Fred Carama, Barbara Hocher, Gayletha Nichols |
| 2003 | Megan Latham | mezzo-soprano | Carol Wong | Marilyn Horne, Michael Benchetrit, Mary Lou Falcone, Barbara Hocher, Robert White |
| 2004 | Daniela Lehner | mezzo-soprano | Marie-Ève Scarfone | Marilyn Horne, Michael Benchetrit, Sheri Greenawald, Barbara Hocher, Bill Vendice |
| 2005 | Elaine Alvarez | soprano | Tamara Sanikidze | Marilyn Horne, Michael Benchetrit, Mary Lou Falcone, Barbara Hocher, Brian Zeger |
| 2005 | Isabel Leonard | mezzo-soprano | Tamara Sanikidze | Marilyn Horne, Michael Benchetrit, Mary Lou Falcone, Barbara Hocher, Brian Zeger |
| 2006 | Evan Hughes | bass-baritone | | Marilyn Horne, Mary Lou Falcone, Barbara Hocher, Speight Jenkins, Robert White |
| 2007 | Nadine Sierra | soprano | Karen Kyung-Eun Na | Marilyn Horne, Michael Benchetrit, Thomas Hampson, Barbara Hocher, Ken Noda (absent), Gianna Rolandi |
| 2008 | Simone Osborne | soprano | In-Sun Suh | Marilyn Horne, Michael Benchetrit, Barbara Hocher, Kenneth Merrill, and Joan Morris |
| 2008 | Edward Parks | baritone | In-Sun Suh | Marilyn Horne, Michael Benchetrit, Barbara Hocher, Kenneth Merrill, and Joan Morris |
| 2009 | Jeffrey Hill | tenor | Lio Kuokman | Marilyn Horne, Mary Lou Falcone, Margo Garrett, Barbara Hocher, Peter Kazaras |
| 2009 | Ronnita Miller | mezzo-soprano | Lio Kuokman | Marilyn Horne, Mary Lou Falcone, Margo Garrett, Barbara Hocher, Peter Kazaras |
| 2010 | Megan Marie Hart (as Megan Hart) | soprano | Sun Ha “Sunny” Yoon | |
| 2011 | Karen Vuong | soprano | Saule Tlenchiyeva | |
| 2012 | Tracy Cox | soprano | Maureen Zoltek | |
| 2013 | John Brancy | baritone | Mario Antonio Marra | |
| 2014 | Michelle Bradley | soprano | Michael Gaertner | Marilyn Horne, Barbara Hocher, Jeremy Geffen, Matthew Epstein, Alexander Neef, Craig Terry |
| 2015 | Benjamin Dickerson | baritone | Alden Gatt | Marilyn Horne, Matthew Epstein, Barbara Hocher, Martin Katz, Gayletha Nichols |
| 2016 | Ben Lowe | baritone | Madeline Slettedahl | Marilyn Horne, Margo Garrett, Barbara Hocher, Nicholas Mathias, Emmanuel Villaume |
| 2017 | Hannah Rose Kidwell | soprano | Christina Giuca | Marilyn Horne, Renée Fleming, Jake Heggie |
| 2018 | Kelsey Lauritano | mezzo-soprano | Andrew Sun | Marilyn Horne, Ricky Ian Gordon, Ken Noda, Susanna Phillips |
| 2019 | Sun-Ly Pierce | mezzo-soprano | Chien-Lin Lu | Marilyn Horne, Michael Heaston, Jennifer Higdon |
| 2021 | Shawn Roth | tenor | Alexander Soloway | |
| 2022 | Joanne Evans | mezzo-soprano | Tzu-Kuang Tan | Ana María Martínez, Sasha Cooke, Martin Katz |