Marcia Baldwin

1936 - 2016

Marcia Maree
Baldwin

November 5, 1936 -
April 3, 2016

Marcia Maree Baldwin was born in Milford, Nebraska on November 5, 1936 to George and Edna (nee Carlson) Baldwin, and passed away April 3, 2016 in Eugene, Oregon.

She grew up in Moline, Illinois, and studied piano, clarinet and cello. She attended Northwestern University and was a member of Alpha Phi Sorority. Marcia majored in Vocal Performance and eventually moved to New York City where she studied with renowned teachers and coaches of singing. At age 23 she was accepted as a Mezzo Soprano company artist at the Metropolitan Opera. During her tenure at the Metropolitan she performed nearly forty roles in more than 500 performances, singing roles in many different languages. Marcia also sang leading and supporting roles with the opera companies of Cincinnati, Central City, Santa Fe, Lake George, Fort Worth and San Francisco. She left the Metropolitan Opera in 1977. She spent several years as the leading Mezzo Soprano of the Kaiserslautern Opera House in Germany. She sang with many major orchestras in the United States and Canada and was an active recitalist.

Marcia holds the position of Professor Emeritus from the Eastman School of Music, University of Rochester. She also was Professor of Voice at the Jacobs School of Music, Indiana University. She taught 3 summers at the American Institute of Musical Studies in Graz, Austria.

She is listed in Who's Who in Opera and Who's Who for American Women. She was a Ford Foundation fellow, a Rockefeller grant winner and won honorable mention at the Munich International Voice Competition. She adjudicated Metropolitan Opera Auditions all over the U.S. and was a master teacher with the Seattle Opera's Young Artist's program. Many of her students are currently performing leading roles in Opera Houses around the world.

In the Northwest, she served on the Voice Faculty of Pacific Lutheran University in Tacoma, Washington. Her comments on singing can be found in the book: "A Spectrum of Voices, Prominent American Voice Teachers Discuss the Teaching of Singing", by Elizabeth Blades-Zeller.

She retired from active teaching in 2005 and with her partner Mira Frohnmayer, moved to Yachats and Eugene, Oregon. In 2007-2008 she came out of retirement to teach voice and German diction at Loyola New Orleans. In February 2011, she returned to Loyola to teach the rest of the school year.

In Eugene, she served on the Advisory Boards of the School of Music and Dance at the University of Oregon, and the Eugene Springfield Youth Orchestra.

Marcia is survived by her partner Mira, brother Brian, sister-in-law Betty Phillips, niece Laura, nephews Greg and Jeff, and their children. The Arts are very important in their lives.

In lieu of flowers, donations are requested to the Fanconi Anemia Research Fund (David Frohnmayer Scientific Research fund), or the Eugene Symphony Orchestra. Her memorial service is Saturday, April 23, 2016 at 3:00 PM at St. Mary's Episcopal Church in Eugene.

Arrangements entrusted to Musgrove Family Mortuary. Please access the obituary and you are invited to sign the guestbook at musgroves.com