Mary Rice, Music Director

Mary Rice is a charismatic performer and creative, with a boundary-agnostic career spanning conducting, singing, and writing.

This year, in addition to their new position as the Music Director of Amuse Singers, they conducted in masterclasses with the Orquestra da Costa Atlântica in Portugal, Solti Chamber Orchestra in Hungary, and the LCW Festival Orchestra in the UK. They are a resident conductor for the precept.concept.percept XVI Contemporary Music Week in Bled, Slovenia in 2027, and received a full scholarship to join the 2026 class of the Audite Conductor’s Academy – a program dedicated to the conducting principles taught at the St. Petersburg Conservatory, continuing the pedagogical lineage of Nicolai Malko, Nicolai Rabinovich, and Yuri Simonov.

As a singer, Rice is regularly praised for their “elegant interpretation” (BroadwayWorld) and fearless stage presence. They were a 2021-2022 Stephen Della Rocca Young Professional Resident with the Rome Chamber Music Festival in Rome Italy, a 2024 Festival Artist with their hometown Moab Music Festival, a 2026 George London Competition semifinalist, runner-up in the Lyra New York Mozart Competition, winner of the 2023 Stagetime Arts Career Grant, and are a regular member of the vocal ensembles of the New York Philharmonic, Musica Sacra, and Great Music in a Great Space at the Cathedral of St. John the Divine in New York City. Their other work includes performances with the S.E.M. Ensemble for contemporary music, Orchestra of St. Luke’s, Fort Greene Orchestra, Brooklyn Chamber Orchestra, Shanghai Symphony Orchestra, Music at Co-Cath, Brooklyn Telemann Chamber Society, New York City Opera, Marshall Opera, City Lyric Opera, Concerts at St. Ignatius, Vern Ensemble, Opera Fayetteville, St. Andrew Music Society, and Fiore di Luna.

A writer well before they were a singer, Rice is a recipient of the USA Today Free Spirit Award for excellence in journalism. Their recent report on wage inequality between orchestras and singers, “The Other Wage Gap”, was one of VAN Music Magazine’s 5 most-read articles of 2025, and their 2025 essay “It’s Good You’re Bored at the Symphony, Actually”, was translated and republished in Italian by Internazionale Magazine with a weekly circulation of a quarter-million readers. From 2022 – 2024 they hosted a successful classical music-education channel on TikTok with regular views in the millions and collaborations with some of the largest classical music institutions in the world.

When not performing or writing, Rice is an avid runner, with a dozen international marathon and ultramarathon finishes under their belt and can otherwise be found fiddling at seisiúns or playing violin in avocational and secondary-instrument ensembles around NYC. They graduated summa cum laude with their bachelor’s and master’s degrees from New York University, where they also completed their post-graduate studies in Vocal Pedagogy and a minor in media business. They are based in New York but proudly call the Intermountain West their home. www.mary-rice.com @coloratura_runs