I dedicate this Website with loving appreciation to the memory of my dear, talented husband, William Ford Purdy III, and to my esteemed mentor and voice teacher, Dr. Harvey Theodore Marshall.
About Linda Purdy
LINDA PURDY, mezzo-soprano, is a well-known singer and teacher on the Monterey Peninsula, a member of the National Association of Teachers of Singing, and a Metropolitan Opera Auditions winner. She has recorded with the Musical Heritage Society, Sonic Arts Corporation, Troubadour Records, New Dawn Studios, Sundance Lane Records, and ARC Recordings, and has released a set of innovative vocal exercises on CD for both men and women. In addition to her private vocal classes on the Monterey Peninsula, she taught vocal technique to many talented young aspiring professional Broadway singers and dancers at the renowned performing arts academy, STEPS ON BROADWAY, in New York City. At the New York Academy, she worked alongside Broadway sensation, actress/singer/dancer Sutton Foster, composer Frank Wildhorn, agent Nancy Carson, as well as opera masters, soprano Sylvia Davis and conductor Herbert Grossman.
Throughout the years, Ms Purdy performed leading roles in opera, musical theatre, as well as guest appearances with symphonies, in recital, and at festivals. Ms Purdy’s credits include appearances with the Goldovsky Opera of New York, the Roger Wagner Chorale of Los Angeles, the Pocket Opera of San Francisco, the I Cantori di Carmel, the Camerata Singers of Monterey County, the Ensemble Monterey, the Monterey Peninsula Choral Society, the International Carmel Bach Festival, the Modesto, Monterey, Santa Cruz, and Los Angeles Symphonies, including guest appearances at the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion in Los Angeles, the Bob Hope Performing Arts Center in Palm Springs, and the Ritz-Carlton Cultural Center in Rancho Mirage. For over 20 years, Ms Purdy concertized in Alaska, Canada and the United States with THE MOTHER LODE MUSICAL THEATRE COMPANY of San Francisco as touring artist under Zuckerman Concerts Arts Alaska, Overture Concerts of Vancouver, B.C., Bravo Artist Management of Seattle, California Arts Council, Mobil Foundation, and the Community Concerts of New York. On the Monterey Peninsula, she co-founded the popular “Broadway Classics Ensemble”, an acclaimed professional vocal/instrumental ensemble singing American Traditional to Contemporary Classics.
Ms Purdy has served as adjudicator at numerous vocal competitions, and conducted several vocal master classes. She has been mentor to hundreds of private vocal students. A great number of these young students have been accepted to continue their musical studies at distinguished universities such as Eastman School of Music (New York), Carnegie Melon University (Pennsylvania), Manhattan School of Music (New York). During the summer months, few select students were chosen for advanced studies at the Boston University Tanglewood Institute Young Vocalist Program, Interlochen Arts Academy (Michigan), Aspen Opera Theatre Summer Music Program (Colorado), and the New York University’s Tisch School of the Arts Summer High School Program.
Locally, her students have been recipients of scholarships from the Monterey Bay Blue’s Festival, and the Colleagues of the Arts (COTA) in Carmel, CA. Other students have been first prize winners in the Junior Bach Competition in Berkeley, CA, and in the National Association of Teachers of Singing Competition (NATS) in San Francisco, CA.
Every summer over the years, her students won the honor of singing with the International Carmel Bach Festival as a member of the Youth Chorus.
AUDIO RECORDINGS
EXCERPTS FROM REVIEWS
“Linda Purdy brought an imperious air an ultra-smooth mezzo-soprano to the role of Orlovsky.”
-Richard S. Ginell, Los Angeles Valley News
“Linda Purdy was superb as Tirinto, and brought the house down with the rage aria mentioned. So, too, the strength and musicianship of John del Carlo was outstanding. One could only wish the average Handel recording could boast their equal.”
-Heuwell Tircuit, San Francisco Chronicle
“The most beautiful music of the opera is assigned to the character of Tirinto, a part played and sung with great style by mezzo-soprano Linda Purdy.”
-Marilyn Tucker, San Francisco Chronicle
“Mezzo-soprano Linda Purdy drew a rousing ovation with each of her three numbers. She exhibited the stage presence of a star, an exquisite feeling for her music and enviable voice control.”
-Dr. Lewis Woodward, The Modesto Bee
“Linda Purdy, the mezzo-soprano, sang her aria ‘Et exultavit’ with quiet dignity, serene exultation, and well-conceived articulated vocalism.”
-Dr. Irving W. Greenberg, The Carmel Pinecone
“Ms Purdy continued with ‘Una Voce Poco Fa’ displaying her talents as a charming comedienne and tossing off her coloratura roulades and cadenzas with spirit, ease and accuracy.”
-Nathalie Plotkin, Monterey Peninsula Herald
The singing of Linda Purdy as Orfeo was beautifully concentrated both vocally and dramatically and gave the role real stature and emotional authenticity.
-Richard Seymour, Monterey Peninsula Herald
“Mezzo-soprano, Linda Purdy, sang the words of this eloquent declaration of being with compassion and authority...Purdy lent a lovely mezzo sound to the Mass as well.”
-Barbara Rose Shuler, Monterey County Herald
“Miss Linda Purdy, mezzo- soprano, in singing the drinking song from Lucretia Borgia, displayed a dynamic range from low to high levels in her voice.”
-Nancy Neil Noonan, Brandon, Manitoba
“Corinne Swall and Linda Purdy in their Spanish songs...true bel canto, superb control of voice...especially fine diction and feeling for mood.”
-Brandon News, Manitoba, Canada
“Mezzo Linda Purdy and bass Thomas Paul sounded more Mozartean than either the chorus or orchestra - they injected just that note of irrepressible tenderness.”
-Charles Johnson, Sacramento Bee
“Ms Purdy, a mezzo-soprano with remarkable vocal range, won enthusiastic applause for her performance of the demanding ‘Laudamus te’ in the Mozart Mass. Of special note was her handling of the coloratura passages with heavy demand on vocal agility and carefully spun-out breath.”
-Dr. Lewis Woodward, The Modesto Bee
“Ms Purdy began the ‘Boston Beguine’ and brought down the house with it...underlining her steady reputation as a singer of verve and charm.”
-Patrick Franklin, The Monterey Herald
PROFESSIONAL QUALIFICATIONS
PROFESSIONAL ASSOCIATIONS
AWARDS AND RECOGNITIONS
RECORDINGS
