When news of Jessye Norman’s death was announced last year, the Met described her as “one of the great sopranos of the past half-century”. She was one of the first black opera stars of Puerto Rican descent to launch an international career, and the first black woman to play Elsa in Wagner’s Lohengrin. Soprano Martina Arroyo, 84, whose major international opera career spanned from the 1960s to the 1980s, is considered a pioneer and instrumental voice of change in breaking down racial barriers for black opera singers. James DePriest conducting the Juilliard Orchestra in 2006. To the extent that anything has rubbed off, then I’m grateful.” And it was a combination of her not needing to strut her strength, because it was just a natural part of her. “She knew that she was Marian Anderson,” DePreist said, “But my aunt was simultaneously the most humble person I ever met in my life and the most powerful. The nephew of the pioneering contralto Marian Anderson (see above), DePreist told NPR that his aunt had provided great inspiration. DePriest was a pioneering conductor, National Medal of Arts winner and poet, who was at the helm of the Oregon Symphony for 25 years. When DePriest died seven years ago, the classical world lost one of the first African-American maestros to have taken to its main stage.
Nina Simone fused pop, gospel and classical. In 2003, just days before her death, they awarded her an honorary degree. The young pianist called out the Institute for racial discrimination. As a young woman she enrolled in New York’s Juilliard School, then applied for a scholarship to study at Philadelphia’s Curtis Institute, where she was denied admission despite a great audition. Simone is now recognised as one of America’s most iconic jazz artists – but she initially wanted a career as a classical pianist. She fused gospel and pop with classical music, and had a great passion for Bach. A pianist with a remarkable contralto voice, Nina Simone was an artist like no other.
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