Marilyn Govich, D.M.A.

Marilyn Govich, D.M.A., is a professor of applied voice and previously served as division head of music theatre and opera, and coordinator of vocal arts at the University of Central Oklahoma. She holds a D.M.A. in vocal performance from the University of Oklahoma, where she received the Provost's Outstanding Dissertation Award. Her dissertation also won the Biennial Dissertation Award of the National Opera Association. Govich represented UCO as the nominee for the U.S. Professors of the Year Award and for the Oklahoma Medal for Excellence in Teaching. At UCO, Govich has been awarded the Hauptman Fellowship Award for Distinguished Achievements in Research, Creative and Scholarly Activity, as well as a Faculty Merit Award for Outstanding Teaching. Two of her students won national Outstanding Performance Awards at the Kennedy Center of the American College Theatre Festival and another student won the national Actors' Equity 2022 Roger Sturtevant Award for Outstanding Musical Theatre Performer.

Govich performed the role of The Ghost of Christmas Present in Lyric Theatre of Oklahoma's A Christmas Carol, the role of Miss Andrew in Mary Poppins, and was seen as The Grand Duchess Sophie in Call Me Madame with Tony Award winner Beth Leavel. Other performance roles include Mother Abbess in The Sound of Music, Widow Douglas/Sally Phelps in Big River, Mother in Ragtime, Lady Beaconsfield in Jekyll and Hyde, Older Emma in Timeless, Ethel McCormack in Footloose, Aldonza in Man of La Mancha, Nancy in Oliver, Margot Bonvalet in The Desert Song, Winnifred in Once Upon a Mattress and Domina in A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum.  Opera roles include Rosalinde in Die Fledermaus, Ann Putnam in The Crucible, Dorabella in Cosi Fan Tutte, Constanze in Abduction from the Seraglio, Madame Flora in The Medium, Lola in Gallantry and Miss Baggott in The Little Sweep. Govich acted in the independent film Temporary, which has played in numerous film festivals, and also was a featured actress in the SAG-AFTRA feature film Forsaken, released in 2017.

She has musical directed shows at Oklahoma City Repertory Theatre and The Palace Players in Lorain, Ohio. In addition, Govich has operated a private voice studio in New York City and previously taught at Oklahoma Baptist University.

Govich has performed as a soloist with the Brisch Center for Historical Performance Practice and previously was a soloist with the Oklahoma Collegium Musicum. She continues as an active recitalist, oratorio soloist, adjudicator and clinician. She has twice been selected to perform as a soloist at the National Conference of the National Opera Association in New York City and has twice presented Artist Recitals at the Texoma Regional Conference of the National Association of Teachers of Singing, as well as performed for regional conferences of The College Music Society. Govich recorded a scene from the David Yeagley opera "Jacek" with the Polish National Radio Symphony in Katowice, Poland for Opus One Records.

She is extremely proud of her students who have become outstanding teachers and those who have performed in Europe, China, Japan and Canada, on Broadway (including her daughter and son), on Broadway national tours, cruise ships and numerous regional theaters.