Marilyn Horne

This 1971 portrait of Marilyn Horn (born 1934), playing Adalgisa in Norma, by John Foote hangs in the National Portrait Gallery in Washington, DC.

"Mezzo-soprano Marilyn Horne is celebrated as one of the most remarkable voices of the twentieth century. A brilliant interpreter, she is a master of Bellini and Rossini, as well as Handel and Bach. She launched her show-business career at age four by singing at a rally for Franklin Roosevelt, but her professional start came in 1954 when she dubbed the singing voice of Dorothy Dandridge in the film Carmen Jones. Horne's 1970 debut at the Metropolitan Opera was as Adalgisa in Bellini's Norma (depicted here). With soprano Joan Sutherland, she ushered in a new golden age of bel canto opera, notably in Norma, Semiramide, and Anna Bolena. Revered also for her concert and recital singing, she founded the Marilyn Home Foundation in 1994 to train rising young stars in the vocal art tradition." -- National Portrait Gallery