American soprano Marnie Breckenridge has won acclaim internationally in a vast repertoire spanning from the Baroque to the Modern. She is continuously praised for her grounded storytelling and known for her deeply expressive score interpretations, layered characterizations, and her beautiful pure soprano. A favorite among some of the most gifted composers of our time, her excellent musicianship and technique have solidly established her as a go-to performer of critically acclaimed new works praising her, “bell-like ring over an enormous range and personality spilling from every note” (The Globe and Mail), “lovely soprano” voice (The New York Times), and “lyrical poignancy and dramatic power” (The Chicago Tribune).
In 2020, she received the DORA award for “Outstanding Performance by an Individual in an Opera” for JACQUELINE, a role she helped create with composer Luna Pearl Woolf and librettist Royce Vavrek about the life of Jacqueline Du Pré written for her and cellist, Matt Haimovitz (Tapestry Opera, Toronto). Other passionate interpretations of contemporary works include: Mother in DOG DAYS by David T. Little (TimeOut Magazine voted it Best Opera) with performances at Montclair Peak Performances, Los Angeles Opera, Prototype Festival, and Ft. Worth Opera, Sierva Maria in Peter Eötvös’s LOVE AND OTHER DEMONS (Glyndebourne Festival Opera), Susannah in Laura Schwendinger’s ARTEMISIA (Left Coast Ensemble), La Princesse in Philip Glass’ ORPHÉE, title role in Milhaud’s MÉDÉE, and Margarita Xirgu in Golijov’s AINADAMAR (Opera Parallèle), Ruth in Luna Pearl Woolf’s THE PILLAR (Julian Wachner and Washington Chorus), her Berkeley Symphony debut in Chin’s CANTANTRIX SOPRANICA with Kent Nagano and her Ravinia Festival debut in Jake Heggie’s TO HELL AND BACK with Philharmonia Baroque, co-staring Patti LuPone. Of her performance at Ravinia noted by reviewer John Von Rein, "she sounded as gorgeous as she looked…a young Meryl Streep, achieving both lyrical poignancy and dramatic power" (The Chicago Tribune).
Breckenridge made her Carnegie Hall debut singing the soprano solos in Mozart’s CORONATION MASS returning to perform Robert Paterson’s, IN REAL LIFE. Other recent concert work includes soprano solos in L’ENFANT ET LES SORTILÈGES, soloist in Barber’s KNOXVILLE: SUMMER OF 1915 and three special SOUND BOX performances (San Francisco Symphony), EIN DEUTSCHES REQUIEM, CARMINA BURANA, and David Lang’s TEACH YOUR CHILDREN (SF Choral Society at Davies Symphony Hall), Canteloube’s CHANTS D’AUVERGNE (Brooklyn Art Song Society), Dallapiccolla’s PARTITA, Petrassi’s MAGNIFICAT, and BERG IN VIENNA concerts (Bard Music Festival), Barber’s KNOXVILLE: SUMMER OF 1915 and Mahler’s 4TH SYMPHONY (Napa Symphony and Pacific Symphony) as well as the BACHIANAS BRAZILERAS and CHICAGO SONGS written for her by Kurt Erickson (Sacramento Philharmonic). Marnie is the 2013 recipient of the Fanfare Award for “Alumni of the Year” at the San Francisco Conservatory and returns to teach and coach students there when her schedule allows. Her superb acting has brought her into the worlds of film, television, and voice-over as well as theatre where she recently composed the vocal lines for and sang the lead in WAKE -an original production with director Mei Ann Teo (PUC Alumnus) and composer Jon Bernstein at the Connelly Theatre in New York. She appeared as Kathie in the 2022 release of Gordon Getty’s opera, “Goodbye, Mr. Chips”. Her recent, HAPPY GOLDEN DAYS recording of Holiday tunes was launched during the pandemic of 2020 on all streaming platforms. She continues to record in the studio with new releases upcoming in2025.
Other opera roles include LUCIA DI LAMMERMOOR (Orlando Opera, Mobile Opera, Indianapolis Opera), Yum Yum in THE MIKADO (Arizona Opera), Gretel in HÄNSEL UND GRETEL (Indianapolis Opera and Arizona Opera), Papagena in DIE ZAUBERFLÖTE and Olga in THE MERRY WIDOW (San Francisco Opera), Pamina in DIE ZAUBERFLÖTE (Indianapolis Opera), Gilda in RIGOLETTO and Emily in OUR TOWN (Festival Opera), Nelle in CRYSALIS (West Edge Opera). She had regularly performed under the baton of Lorin Maazel as Lucia in Britten’s RAPE OF LUCRETIA at his Castleton Foundation and on tour. Breckenridge is a featured soloist on the 2012 New World Records’ album of Victor Herbert songs and recently made her European and Asian debuts as Cunegonde in CANDIDE (Prague State Opera then in Robert Carsen’s production with the English National Opera and on tour in Japan) where her performances were reviewed “note perfect” (Prague Post) and “simply terrific” (Opera Magazine, UK).