Barbara J. Hocher

Style: Opera; Classical; Musical Theatre

Title: private voice teacher

Bio:

Barbara J. Hocher has enjoyed a multifaceted professional life as opera and concert singer; executive director of the Marilyn Horne Foundation, a non-profit devoted to classical song and to emerging artists; and development and program consultant to such institutions as Carnegie Hall and Opera America. Combining this background with her passion for classical music, especially the vocal arts, she now focuses 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 organizational management.

Born and raised in Houston, Texas, Ms. 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, 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, 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 enabled 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 (Die Entführung aus dem 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, 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 and P.D.Q Bach. She performed with conductors Boris Goldovsky, Christopher Keene, Cal Stewart Kellogg, Robert LaMarchina, Bruno Maderna, John Mauceri, John Nelson, Karl Richter, Julius Rudel, Gunther Schuller, Stanislav Skrowaczewski, and others. As an Affiliate Artist, she was an ambassador for opera and recitals in residencies in six U.S. communities.

Following her singing career, Ms. Hocher earned a Master of Arts degree, majoring in arts administration for the performing arts. 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 singer Marilyn Horne, coordinating her 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. When the Horne Foundation’s programs became part of the Marilyn Horne Legacy at Carnegie Hall, Ms. Hocher became a program consultant to the Marilyn Horne vocal programs there.

As part of the faculty at The New School’s Mannes College of Music she taught private and group voice lessons and classical vocal-repertoire courses, and created and taught a course for aspiring professional singers, advising them of the many factors and issues they will face, such as artist management, taxes, unions, audition techniques, caring for one’s physical, emotional and psychological health in career at home and on the road, marketing one’s self in a highly competitive arena, what young singers’ choices are once they leave the structured life in a university/college degree program, and career options.

Currently she teaches voice privately in New York City and gives master classes in opera and song repertoire as well as lectures and Q&A sessions for arts management students. Her master classes have been at such institutions as DePaul University, Eastman School of Music, Illinois Wesleyan University, Manhattan School of Music, Opera New Jersey Young Artist Program, the Royal Welsh College of Musi and Drama in Cardiff, Wales, University of Houston, University of Louisville, and University of North Texas. As an adjudicator for voice competitions such as the Gerda Lissner Foundation, Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions, Marilyn Horne Song Competition at the Music Academy of the West, and Carnegie Hall’s The Song Continues Festival, she continues to encourage and mentor gifted young singers poised to discover their own uniqueness and the incredible joy of singing. (http://www.barbarahocher.com ) Winter 2024

Voice Type: Soprano

Music Styles Taught: Opera; Classical; Musical Theatre

Availability: I am currently accepting private students; I offer lessons in a group environment

Contact Information