Born: 23 June, 1956 Mansfield, Ohio USA
Voice: Soprano

Like her compatriot Judith Blegen, Sylvia McNair began her musical life as a violinist, studying from the age of six until twenty-three when her soprano voice came to the fore. This rigorous instrumental training has contributed to the intensely beautiful tone and technique of one of America's most lovely sopranos.

McNair has made a specialty of Mozart on disc and in the opera house while finding time for Rossini, Stravinsky and Britten to name a few of the composers she admires. It was in Stravinsky's The Rake's Progress at Glyndebourne in 1989 where Sylvia McNair caught the ear of the international music press followed quickly by an equally auspicious debut in Mozart's Idomeneo at Covent Garden.

Sylvia McNair is a real champion of the recital and after winning the first ever Marion Anderson Award in 1990 has devoted more time to an art form she believes is very much worth preserving, citing its ability to bring a performer in much closer contact with the audience than opera.

Her discography is large and varied with many excellent recordings on Philips Classics and DG. Among her celebrated opera recordings Monteverdi's Poppea with John Eliot Gardiner and Titiania in Britten's Midsummer Night's Dream with Colin Davis stand out and her recitals of Purcell, Handel and Mozart are indispensable additions to the Universal catalogue.