Canadian opera singer and teacher Mary Morrison turns 100 years old

How does it feel to reach a hundred years old? Oh, I feel great. I think I'm going to have a good time this year. Thank you. You can be different people up on stage there and hopefully you can identify really Um... Strongly, with whatever character you are portraying or singing about. And how did you transition from being a performer to a teacher? I think it just happened because after somebody would hear me sing, they'd say, well, are you teaching? And then they would ask if they could come and have a lesson. If you're prepared, know who you are, and believe in yourself. Go for it! I started studying with Mary when I was 18 or 19 years old, so about 18 years ago. Mary really taught me how to be brave, how to sing things that are really hard, how to have fun while doing it, how to be adventurous with repertoire and programming. Brings part of their personality into the music and of course their personalities are very different, their ages are different, what their experiences have been, all kinds of things have influenced how I look at the music and look at them and think, oh are they doing this, are they doing that. Her warmth, her... Desire to express the music beautifully and to teach us all that is probably at the core of who she is. She is. Is there anything that you miss about the stage? No, now that I teach I'm very happy to see what I can bring out of the student for the music, whatever style or their... Some of their personality, I think that's very important. I hope people remember that it's to hold fast to the meaning of the music and that music can take us and lift us out of our everyday cares.