Margaret Medlyn

Margaret Medlyn ONZM
Medlyn in 2012
Born	(1955-10-07) 7 October 1955 (age 69) Falmouth, Cornwall, England
Citizenship	New Zealand
Occupations	Operatic soprano singing teacher
Relatives	Helen Medlyn (sister)
Academic background
Alma mater	Victoria University of Wellington
Thesis	Embodying Voice: Singing Verdi, singing Wagner (2016)
Doctoral advisor	Inge van Rij Elizabeth Hudson

Margaret Medlyn ONZM (born 7 October 1955) is a New Zealand opera singer and voice teacher. In 2012, Medlyn was appointed an Officer of the New Zealand Order of Merit, for services to opera.

Medlyn was born in Falmouth, Cornwall, England, on 7 October 1955,^[1] and emigrated with her family to New Zealand in the early 1960s when she was five.^[2] She grew up in West Auckland and was educated at Henderson High School.^[2] Medlyn studied music at the University of Auckland, earning a Bachelor of Music degree.^[2] She became a naturalised New Zealand citizen in 1978.^[1]

Medlyn's sister, Helen Medlyn, is also an opera singer.^[2]

Medlyn made her operatic debut in London, singing Octavian in Der Rosenkavalier with Opera Viva, and then spending four years with Kent Opera.^[3] Although she started out as a mezzo-soprano, her voice gradually moved upwards and she began to perform as a soprano.^[4] Medlyn has performed with the Royal Opera at Covent Garden, the English National Opera, the Vienna State Opera and Opera Australia, and the New Zealand Symphony Orchestra, the Sydney Symphony and the Malaysian Philharmonic.^[5][2] Her roles have included Salome in Salome, Leonore in Il trovatore, Kundry in Parsifal, Aida and Amneris in Aida, the title roles in Tosca and Turandot, and Isolde in Tristan und Isolde.^[6] Her performance of Grandmother Kostelnicka in Janáček's Jenůfa was considered notable.^[7][8]

Medlyn joined the New Zealand School of Music in 2007, and was head of voice at Victoria University of Wellington. She has also taught at the New Zealand Opera School.^[9][2] Medlyn completed a PhD titled Embodying Voice: Singing Verdi, singing Wagner at Victoria University of Wellington in 2016, which was later published by Routledge.^[10] She is a national recording artist for Radio New Zealand, recording a number of recitals and releasing four CDs.^[6]

Medlyn is a vice patron of the Orpheus Choir in Wellington.^[11]

In the 2012 Queen's Birthday and Diamond Jubilee Honours, Medlyn was appointed an Officer of the New Zealand Order of Merit, for services to opera.^[12][13]

• Burning Bright featuring the work of four New Zealand women composers, Kiwi Pacific label (1999)
• In a strange land: the songs of Richard Fuchs, for Rollover Productions (2011)
• From Garden to Grave Jenny Macleod's settings of text by Katherine Mansfield, Waiteate Music Press (2011)
• Sojourn, Cages for the Wind, Stephan Prock’s setting of poems by Alistair Te Ariki Campbell
• Medlyn, Margaret (2019). Embodying Voice: Singing Verdi, Singing Wagner. Routledge. ISBN 9781138585546.

• Radio New Zealand interview "Margaret Medlyn's Embodying Voice", February 2019
• Rotary Club talk by Margaret Medlyn, October 2018