ABOUT
Mary Cleary is a Mezzo-Soprano, teacher and lecturer who specializes in French repertoire. She received a Masters of Music from the Longy School of Music of Bard College where she was the recipient of the Longy Dean’s Scholarship and the Longy Conservatory Scholarship. While a student at Longy, she studied at the American Institute of Musical Studies in Graz, Austria as a member of the Lieder Studio where she focused on and performed both German and French Art Song under the direction of Gustavo Halley and Ettore Prandi.
After being exposed to French language and culture in her formative years, she studied in Grenoble, France for a year during her transition between high school and college and became fluent in the language. She received her B. A. in Music and French Literature from Sarah Lawrence College, where she was awarded the Jerome Swinford Music Scholarship and studied with LaNoue Davenport and Sheila Schonbrun, two of the original members of the New York ProMusica.
While a student at Sarah Lawrence College she became interested in Debussy’s vocal literature. Her teacher, Jean Wentworth, a celebrated Debussy scholar and Margo Garrett, a brilliant performer, vocal coach and teacher of Vocal Literature, fostered and encouraged her interest in Debussy’s work and French repertoire in general. Ms. Cleary appeared as a soloist many times with the Westchester Chorale under the direction of Harold Aks, the director of the Sarah Lawrence College Chorus and Orchestra, both while a student there and as an alumna. Ms. Cleary received her M. A. in Music from the Aaron Copland School of Music of Queens College in New York where she was awarded the Edward Downes Opera Scholarship and where she continued her studies with Margo Garrett, studied voice Peter Elkus, and was appointed Adjunct Faculty with the Queens College Vocal Ensemble directed by Paul Maynard, another original member of the New York ProMusica. She began her studies in Opera at Queens College with Maurice Peress, who was the director of the Queens College Opera Workshop where she played the role of the Mother in Benjamin Britten's "Albert Herring" , The Countess in Mozart's "The Marriage of Figaro" and Regina from Marc Blitzstein's opera, "Regina".