Marlena Malas 1936-2023 | In Memoriam

May 23, 1936-December 4, 2023

By Joshua Simka

Juilliard voice faculty member Marlena Malas died on December 4 at 87 years old. Revered in the field of classical voice, she taught students who grace the stages of the world’s major opera houses and concert venues and teach at conservatories and universities around the globe. An email announcing the sad news to the Juilliard community extolled her influence on generations of singers and called her a “brilliant teacher who inspired countless singers for over three decades.” For the past two years, she had served as senior vocal advisor, in which capacity she offered extra guidance to Juilliard voice students.

Born May 23, 1936 in New York City, Marlena Kleinman enjoyed singing popular music at her father’s restaurant as a girl and began taking voice lessons in her late teens. She was a student at the Juilliard Preparatory Division from 1951 to 1953, where she studied with Elizabeth Bishop (faculty 1945–82), before earning admission to the Curtis Institute, which she attended for seven years. Malas, a mezzo-soprano, performed with New York City Opera, Miami Opera, and Boston Opera. She sang solos with the New York Philharmonic and the Philadelphia Orchestra. While singing at Santa Fe Opera, she met bass-baritone Spiro Malas. They were married in 1963 at City Hall in Manhattan. Immediately following the nuptials, they returned to City Opera, where she was singing in Rigoletto and he was singing in La bohème, for rehearsals. Spiro Malas died in 2019. Marlena is survived by their sons, Alexis and Nicol; and grandchildren Sascha, Reed, Grant, Max, and Flynn.

Malas’ artistry is preserved in part in a 1961 recording of Brahms’ Liebeslieder Waltzes, accompanied by Rudolf Serkin and Leon Fleisher (faculty 1993–95); a 1963 recording of Mahler’s Symphony No. 8 with the Utah Symphony Orchestra conducted by Maurice Abravanel; and a 1966 recording of Debussy’s Le martyre de Saint Sébastien with the New York Philharmonic and Leonard Bernstein. 

Malas began teaching at Curtis in 1986 and at Juilliard in 1989. She was director of the Chautauqua Opera Conservatory (formerly the Chautauqua School of Music Voice Program), was on the voice faculties at Manhattan School of Music and the Hartt School of Music, and taught a long roster of private students at her Upper West Side apartment. She served as a vocal consultant and teacher for organizations including the Canadian Opera Company, the Metropolitan Opera’s Lindemann Young Artist Program, the English National Opera, the Santa Fe Opera, the Castleton Festival, and the Chicago Lyric Opera Young Artist Program. She also served as a judge for the Metropolitan Opera National Council auditions. Malas taught master classes throughout the U.S.; in the U.K., Belgium, Japan, and at the International Vocal Arts Institute (IVAI) in Israel; and, in 1993, in collaboration with her mentors Joan Sutherland, Richard Bonynge, and Luigi Alva in association with the Sydney Opera House.

In 2022, Malas was inducted into Opera America’s Hall of Fame in recognition of her contributions to the operatic community as an educator and artist.

Joshua Simka (BM ’14, voice) is assistant editor of the Journal