Marvis Martin

Marvis Lynn Martin is an American operatic soprano, best known for her concert performances and recitals, including her renditions of Joseph Canteloube's Songs from the Auvergne, and of Bess in Bobby McFerrin's touring concert version of Porgy and Bess.

Hailed as "a lyric soprano of unusual brightness, evenness and quality" by The New York Times and winner of several competition prizes, Martin is acclaimed for her "beauty of voice and sensitive communication, receiving awards, medals and glowing reviews as a song recitalist, concert singer, and opera performer."

Martin was born in Tallahassee, Florida but grew up in Miami, Florida, where she was singing professionally by the age of five. She trained at the University of Miami's Frost School of Music, earning a Bachelor of Music degree, in 1977. She subsequently obtained a master's degree from the Manhattan School of Music. She then studied under Elisabeth Schwartzkopf and was also a protegée of Alice Tully.

Martin made her professional debut in 1981 as part of the Young Concert Artists Series; the New York Times review called her "promising" and said that "at her best she displayed a talent and a temperament that could make her into an important singer." She had her debut with the Metropolitan Opera in 1982, singing the role of "Pamina" in a touring production of The Magic Flute. Over the next few years, she received "awards, medals and glowing reviews as a song recitalist, concert singer and opera performer." At the Met, she performed in such operas as Boris Godunov, Don Carlo, Ariadne auf Naxos, Porgy and Bess, and Idomeneo.