Opera legend Marilyn Horne is not letting cancer get her
down.

Horne, a native of Bradford, was diagnosed with pancreatic
cancer in mid-December. She went public with her diagnosis in
January.

“I am near the end of my present treatment,” Horne told The Era
Thursday. “I have four radiation and two chemotherapy treatments to
go, but who’s counting?”

In January – when her manager, Denise Pineau of Columbia Artists
management, released Horne’s medical condition – the situation was
explained as “localized pancreatic cancer” with an “excellent
prognosis for a full recovery.”

The 72-year-old said she is doing fine with her treatments,
which she is doing in New York City.

“I have had a lot of good luck that I have not had any problems
with either the chemo or radiation,” the mezzo-soprano said. “Last
week, I asked my doctor why I had so little difficulty with the
treatments and her answer was, ‘because you’re strong.'”

Horne said that 30 days after her treatment ends, she will have
a scan and her doctor will reevaluate “the entire picture.”

“We will then find out what the next step is, surgery or some
other form of continued treatment.”

Nationally, about 20 percent of pancreatic cancers are diagnosed
while the tumor is confined entirely within the pancreas, giving
doctors a chance to remove it before it spreads.

Even while undergoing treatment, Horne has remained active with
her work.

“I really am feeling very well and at present, teaching master
classes for a select group of students at the Manhattan School of
Music.”

She is also preparing for her summer program at the Music
Academy of the West in Santa Barbara, Calif., and her Marilyn Horne
Foundation.

Horne also spoke about the support she’s had from her family and
from Bradford.

“Best of all, my grandchildren are here visiting and that’s the
best medicine for anyone,” she said. “Loads of love to everyone in
Bradford.”

Horne spent the first 11 years of her life in Bradford and
started her singing career at Veterans Square with the Citizens
Band.

Horne had studied at the University of Southern California and
made her debut in Smetana’s “The Bartered Bride” in a 1954 Los
Angeles Guild Opera production. Horne first sang at London’s Covent
Garden in 1964, and at Milan’s La Scala in 1969.

In 1970, she made her Metropolitan Opera debut as Adalgisa in
Bellini’s “Norma” alongside soprano Joan Sutherland.

Horne officially retired from the stage in 1999 and has devoted
much of her time since to working with young singers. She directs
the vocal program at the Music Academy of the West, a summer school
and festival in Santa Barbara and supports promising artists
through the Marilyn Horne Foundation, established in 1994 to
develop both the talent and audiences for vocal recitals.

Horne’s international success in the most difficult of
mezzo-soprano roles led to the revival of many of Rossini’s and
Handel’s greatest operas. She first came into the public spotlight
as the dubbed voice of Dorothy Dandridge in the motion picture
Carmen Jones in 1954.