Marion Dry

Marion Dry
mdry@wellesley.edu
(781) 283-2077
Faculty emerita
A.B., Harvard University; M.M., Northwestern University

Marion Dry

Senior Music Performance Faculty Emerita in Voice

Contralto who loves opera and songs; fascinated by singing. Hopes to inspire student musicians. Enjoys to teach, learn, and grow.


I am a soloist with numerous orchestras including the Cleveland Orchestra, Boston Pops Orchestra, National Symphony of Panama, National Symphony of the Ukraine, and Boston Modern Orchestra Project. I am a member of the original cast of world premiere performances of John Adams' opera, Nixon in China. Performed operatic roles with Houston Grand Opera, Seattle Opera, Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, Brooklyn Academy’s Next Wave Festival, Opera Boston, Blossom Music Festival, Boston Lyric Opera, and at Netherlands Opera, and Edinburgh Festival. Member of the Jubilee Trio, performing American art songs and spirituals. My recordings include contemporary and standard repertoires on Nonesuch, Koch, CRI, Virgin Classics.

I teach private voice and Music 240, Opera Workshop. My focus in voice lessons is vocal technique and the classical repertoire, including contemporary music. It is important to me to meet the student where she is and to discover her interests. That discovery leads to creating an individual course of study for voice lessons that will include vocal technique, repertoire building, musical exploration, and the development of musical artistry. In the opera workshop, I teach students the craft of the singing actor. This endeavor includes stagecraft, character development, and musical preparation as well as a study of style, period, and libretto.

My musical career has included a focus on the music of American composers, with a particular interest in African-American and female composers. As chair of the Music Department and director of the Music Performance Program, I devote a great deal of time and energy to supporting the development of the scholarly and performance work of the the Music Department.

I write fiction and poetry as a hobby. Other interests: theater, art, the natural world, herbs, flowers, and wildflowers.