First Nations mezzo-soprano Marion Newman "has a distinctive, dusky voice that suggests drama with every note" (Toronto Star) and has been noted as "a show stealer" (BBC Music Magazine). In her debut with Cork’s Opera 2005 in the title role of Carmen, she was widely praised for her “superbly sinuous sexuality” and as “a very exciting new talent” by the Irish Examiner. She returned to Cork to appear as Rosina in Il Barbiere di Siviglia, and has appeared as Margret in Wozzeck and Juno in The Tempest with Pacific Opera Victoria, Meg Page in The Merry Wives of Windsor, the White Cat, the Dragonfly and the Squirrel in L’Enfant et les Sortilège, both for Edmonton’s Opera Nuova.
 
The 2008-2009 season will feature performances as Cherubino and Cinderella for Opera Lyra Ottawa and Hansel for Opera Hamilton, as well as Ms Newman’s debut with the National Ballet of Canada, singing Vivaldi's Dixit Dominus as part of a new work by Sabrina Matthews, and the release of a new recording with the Aradia Ensemble.
 
Highlights of Marion's 2007-2008 season include Third Lady in Die Zauberflöte with Vancouver Opera, and the roles of Flora in La Traviata and Cherubino in Le Nozze di Figaro in Sulmona, Italy as part of the C.O.S.I. programme. International appearances include performances in the Czech Republic and Germany as Don Ramiro in Mozart’s Die Gärtnerin Aus Liebe and Ericlea in Monteverdi’s Il Ritorno di Ulisse. Marion also sang the roles of Zita and La Zia Principessa in Puccini’s Gianni Schicchi and Suor Angelica in Italy. As part of the Banff Centre new music programme, she toured France with Richard Dubelski’s What’s Goin’ On and in 2004 she traveled to Lithuania with the ERGO ensemble to perform at the Is Arti New Music Festival.
 
On the concert stage, Marion has performed with the Victoria Symphony, Vancouver Symphony, Portland Baroque Orchestra, CapriCCio Vocal Ensemble, San Francisco Conservatory Orchestra, Kingston Symphony, Symphony Nova Scotia, Elora Festival Singers, Talisker Players, Bell’Arte Singers, Aradia Ensemble, Toronto Philharmonia, Toronto Mendelssohn Choir, St Lawrence Choir, Fanshawe Chorus London and the Sooke Philharmonic. Her extensive repertoire includes Handel’s Messiah, the Mozart Requiem, Coronation Mass and Davidde Penitente, Copland’s In The Beginning, Bach’s St. John Passion, Magnificat, and Cantata no. 4.
 
Marion has also demonstrated her "luscious mezzo soprano voice and captivating vivacity" on television, having been featured four times as a soloist on CBC’s National Aboriginal Achievement Awards, and opening the 2002 Royal Golden Jubilee Gala at Roy Thomson Hall, where she performed the National Anthem with the Toronto Symphony Orchestra and the Toronto Mendelssohn Choir before Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II.
 
Marion’s discography includes three discs with the Aradia Ensemble for Naxos: Vivaldi’s Sacred Music and Griselda, Handel’s Rinaldo and Charpentier’s Messe de Minuit pour Noel and Te Deum. As well, she recorded Sea Change featured in the contemporary work Brush Strokes by Linda C. Smith, with Continuum Contemporary Music and Handel’s Dixit Dominus and Bach’s Cantata no. 4 with the CapriCCio Ensemble for Virga Recordings.
 
Marion made her orchestral debut at the age of sixteen with the Victoria Symphony, not as a singer, but as a pianist, performing Mozart’s Piano Concerto K. 488 in A Major. She holds a Bachelor of Music in piano performance from the University of Victoria and a Master of Music with Distinction in vocal performance from the San Francisco Conservatory of Music. She is the recipient of a Career Development Grant from the Canada Council for the Arts.