Event: Celebration of Song, Voice Teacher Mary Lou Eagan Muratori Celebrates 40 Years of Teaching Voice; Sat., Sept. 26, 7:30 p.m.; $10
Article and photo by Rachel Heisler
Mary Lou Eagan Muratori
Ever since I can remember, all I wanted to do was sing. I sang everywhere I could: In high school choir and theater, at home with my hairbrush microphone and with my friends in our make-shift singing competitions. It wasn’t until high school that I decided to take singing to the next level, and that meant taking real voice lessons. And that is when I met Mary Lou Eagan Muratori.
She is a sweet, unique woman with a beautiful soprano voice, who has the most solid yet dainty way of playing the piano. She was always patient as she taught me her singing techniques, and damned if she didn’t, eventually, teach me how to sing! The hairbrush was traded in for a Shure microphone, and Cyndi Lauper, while still one of my first loves, was traded in for Mozart. I, admittedly, was not the most dedicated student, (I partook in the occassional cigarette and didn’t practice nearly as much as Mary Lou strongly suggested) but over the months I really did improve. And I was not the only singer Mary Lou helped to strengthen their vocal abilities, and this upcoming event will prove just how many lives she touched in one way or another.
Besides being a fantastic teacher of opera, operetta, art songs, oratorio and musical theater, Mary Lou has sung roles such as Olympia in Offenbach’s Les Contes d’Hoffman, Lucia in Donizett’s Lucia di Lammermoor and Adle in Strauss’s Die Fledermaus. She is also a sought-after painist, and has accompanied Peyton Hibbit of Tri-Cities Opera, Robert Driver of Syracuse Opera and Thomas Mahalik of the New Jersey Symphony Orchestra, as well as local groups such as Edicott Cabaret and Downtown Singers. She is the founder and director of A Company for Chamber Opera for 20 uears. For five years, she directed The Singing Angels, a young girls’ chorus, and had 55 vocal students last year alone.
On Sept. 26, Mary Lou will celebrate 40 years of teaching voice at this Celebration of Song event. The gathering will feature performances by past and present students, with few interesting surprises thrown in along the way and a reception to follow. It will be held at 7:30 p.m. at the First Presbyterian Church, 42 Chenango St., Binghamton. Tickets cost $10, and can be purchased in advance by sending a check made out to Mary Lou Muratori to Pej reitz, 2600 Pine Bluff Drive, Vestal, NY 13850.
I haven’t played music or sang in a number of years, but Mary Lou helped to instill a love of music in me that, obviously, continues to this very day. To know her is to love her, and to see her again after all these years will be a treat for all of those who had the opportunity to work with and learn from her over the years.
Anyone interested in scheduling voice lessons, please call Mary Lou at 607-722-0977.
