Teacher

Barbara Hocher has enjoyed a multifaceted professional life as opera and concert singer; executive director of a nonprofit arts organization devoted to the vocal recital and the cultivation of gifted young artists. Combining these with her passion for classical music, especially the vocal arts, she now focusses on teaching and coaching singers, giving master classes on song and opera repertoire, lecturing on arts management, adjudicating vocal competitions, and consulting to nonprofit arts organizations in the areas of programming and development.

Born and raised in Houston, Texas, Barbara Hocher began violin studies at ten years of age. In high school she was chosen to participate in two renowned youth orchestras, Houston All-City Symphony and Texas All-State Orchestra. Her parents were volunteer church musicians and early involved their daughter in choral singing in the church choir, but it was at North Texas State University, where she earned a Bachelor of Music degree in voice and violin, that she was inspired by song and opera literature. While completing a Master of Music degree in voice at New England Conservatory of Music, she was a regional winner and national semifinalist in the Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions. Awarded a Fulbright Scholarship, she accepted instead the Frank Huntington Beebe Fund Award for Study Abroad; this and additional study grants from the Metropolitan Opera, the Martha Baird Rockefeller Fund for Music, and the Sullivan Foundation allowed her to study voice, language, and repertoire in Germany, France, and Italy for several years.

Moving to New York City, Barbara Hocher made her debut with New York City Opera in Henze’s Der junge Lord. During her vocal career she performed such leading roles as Konstanze (The Abduction from the Seraglio), Mimi and Musetta (La bohème), Fiordiligi (Così fan tutte), Rosalinda (Die Fledermaus), Ilia (Idomeneo), Lady with a Cake Box (Postcard from Morocco), Cio-Cio-San (Madama Butterfly), and Birdie (Regina), appearing with New York City Opera, Washington Opera, Lake George Opera, Glimmerglass Opera, Philadelphia Opera, Central City Opera, Opera Company of Boston, Hawaii Opera Theatre, and Michigan Opera, among others. Orchestral appearances included the Minnesota Orchestra, the symphonies of New Jersey, San Francisco, Boston, Baltimore and Houston, and, at Carnegie Hall, the American Symphony (Mahler’s Fourth Symphony) and P.D.Q. Bach (as Billie-Jo Casta in Oedipus Tex). Conductors she performed with include John DeMain, Boris Goldovsky, Christopher Keene, Cal Stewart Kellogg, Robert LaMarchina, Bruno Maderna, John Mauceri, John Nelson, Karl Richter, Julius Rudel, Gunther Schuller, and Stanislav Skrowaczewski. As an Affiliate Artist, she was an ambassador for opera and recitals in residencies in six U.S. communities.

While continuing her singing career she enrolled in the arts administration program at New York University and earned a Master of Arts degree in Arts Administration. She was an adjunct professor at City University of New York’s Baruch College, coordinating and lecturing for the arts administration internship program. In 1991 she began a long professional relationship with the world-renowned opera and concert singer Marilyn Horne, coordinating Ms. Horne’s professional engagements and special projects and in 1993 becoming Executive Director of the Marilyn Horne Foundation, a nonprofit organization devoted to classical song and to gifted emerging artists. In 2004 the Foundation’s programs became part of Carnegie Hall’s Weill Music Institute as part of the Marilyn Horne Legacy at Carnegie Hall.

Ms. Hocher taught voice lessons both privately and in the group setting, repertoire classes, and career seminars as a member of the faculty of The New School Mannes College of Music. Continuing to share her knowledge of development, management, and program planning, she consulted with New Jersey Opera, Opera America’s National Opera Center, the University of Pittsburgh at Bradford’s Marilyn Horne Museum and Exhibit Center, the Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama (Cardiff, Wales), and the Marilyn Horne Legacy at Carnegie Hall.

Currently Ms. Hocher teaches voice in New York City and gives master classes in opera and song repertoire, as well as Q&A sessions for arts management students. She is a frequent adjudicator in national voice competitions. Recently she had the privilege and grear pleasure of organizing the Marilyn Horne 90th Birthday Tribute in partnership with the Marilyn Horne Museum and Exhibit Center.

October 2024