(Click the "Play" button
above to view the memorial video for Dixie Ross-Neill.)
DIXIE ROSS-NEILL
28 May 1940 ~
28 May 2007
Pianist ~ Vocal Coach
& Teacher ~ Collaborative Artist
DIXIE ROSS-NEILL amassed extensive
experience and expertise as a vocal coach, teacher and collaborative
artist. Her repertoire included well over one hundred fifty operas
in addition to a vast amount of vocal concert and recital music in
diverse languages and styles, spanning more than four centuries and
encompassing a huge amount of the traditional together with more than
thirty American and world premiers by some of today’s most distinguished
composers. Formerly a member of the musical staff of New York’s
Metropolitan Opera, Ms. Ross-Neill prepared operas for a great many
major companies, including among others, Chicago Lyric Opera, Houston
Grand Opera, Washington DC, Boston and Amsterdam.
After
completing her university studies magna cum laude at the University of
North Carolina Greensboro and the University of Texas Austin, this
Lincolnton NC native moved to Germany, where she was engaged as
repetiteur for Bühnen der Stadt Essen. She later lived and worked
in New York City for almost twelve years before returning to Europe
where she became Music Director for De Nederlandse Operastichting Studio
in Amsterdam. Recognized internationally as an authority on young
artist training programs, Ms. Ross-Neill was for five years Director of
Musical Studies for the Canadian Opera Company Ensemble and, from 1993
until 2006, served as Director of Opera Studies for the McGill
University Faculty of Music in Montreal. As a recorded collaborative
artist, she can be heard on “Carolyn Heafner Sings American Songs” and
on “Fire, Fire, Quench Desire”, a collection of Jack Beeson songs.
She compiled an operetta CD for BMG Canada, "A Night in Vienna".
Dixie Ross-Neill maintained
active private studios both in Canada and in New York City, where she
was able to continue her work with a large number of high profile
professionals and emerging young artists – among them, Ben Heppner, Jane
Henschel, Jay Hunter Morris, Clifton Forbis, Debi Raymond, Dimitri
Pittas, Jonathan Carle, Julie Makerov, Susan Eyton-Jones, Sarah Kleeman
and innumerable others. She traveled frequently, performing with singers
in recital, conducting master classes and workshops with her husband
teacher/tenor William Neill and functioning as guest musical preparer,
adjudicator for various national and international competitions and as
artistic advisor for opera companies and professional training programs.
In 2003, Dixie Ross-Neill and William Neill were greatly honored to
receive OPERA CANADA’s prestigious “Ruby” Award recognizing them for
professional excellence and outstanding lifetime achievement in the
field of Opera, Vocal Training and Education.