​"She was the one to watch" - Boston Broadway Awards

Dr. Ianthe Mariniis an AEA and SAG-E actress, AGMA singer and flutist, and choral/orchestral conductor (Doctor of Musical Arts). The American Prize Winner in Conducting (2019) and Best Actress in a Musical by Boston Broadway Awards (Anita, West Side Story), she has been celebrated as “the one to watch, and, an unmatchable and dynamic force who engages in each moment to the fullest. Her presence on stage is palpable.” (My Theater World Boston).

An actress in Los Angeles, Marini has gained a reputation for her “commitment, inspired motivations, vulnerability, and daring” (Dr. Marylin Winkle, LA Camerata). A repertory company member of Will Geer’s Theatricum Botanicum, which remains at the top of the LA Times list for theater venues in Southern California, Ianthe was described by its artistic director and leading Shakespearean expert Ellen Geer as “a fearless phenom and a wild sensation who brings weight and gravitas to all we do here.” Of her work in Madwomen Part II at the City Garage Theatre in Santa Monica, Dr. Raymond Knapp, (Distinguished Professor of Musicology and Humanities UCLA) wrote, “Marini is the most moving part of the production, in part for her daring to give up beauty for rawness.”

She has had leading roles with The American Repertory Theatre, The Industry Opera, Will Geer'sTheatricum Botanicum Equity Playhouse, regional theatre houses from Boston to Atlanta, LACamerata, and has appeared with Musica Angelica, San Francisco Opera, and the Springer OperaHouse. She has been an invited conductor (Carnegie Hall), and has prepared the choirs as Chorus Master (National Symphony Orchestra at Kennedy Center and Baltimore Symphony Orchestra at Meyerhoff Hall) for some of the world’s leading maestri. Her research and methodology regarding the intersection of choral music and acting has been published in multiple books and journals. She was the first female conductor of the University of Maryland Men's Chorus, and the former Paul S.and Jean R. Amos Distinguished Chair for Choral Activities at the Schwob School of Music at Columbus State University.

While at the Schwob, her choirs were awarded the Ernst Bacon Memorial Prize for performance of American repertoire and were invited as featured guests at Carnegie Hall. She was the founding faculty advisor for the Black Schwob Society, a student organization that fostered and developed Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion practices in the classical music curriculum and the culture of the school at large. Marini was awarded at each University at which she matriculated (The CreativeAchievement Award at Pennsylvania State University, the Elaine Brown Memorial Scholarship for humanitarianism in choral music and the Helen Laird Scholarship for Academic Achievement at Temple University, and the Pomeroy Prize for the scholarship and performance of Seventeenth Century repertoire at the University of Maryland). 

She is extremely passionate about, and has dedicated all aspects of her vocational life to the ability of song to tell the truth through story, ultimately allowing us to find ourselves mirrored and illuminated through the intersection of text, and how it is illustrated through melody, harmony, rhythm, and style. She has taught her course, “Acting through song”, at Universities, secondary schools, professional theatres, and embodiment workshops across the United States. All aspects ofher life as a singing actress, an acting singer, a scholar, a choral conductor, and a professor are based on her passion for embodying our full authenticity through the use of text and voice, grounded inand through the connection with our most deeply rooted truths.