Leontyne Price

Leontyne Price was the first African American to achieve international stardom on the operatic stage. As a child in Mississippi, Price was inspired by the example of the concert singer Marian Anderson, and in time won a scholarship to the Juilliard School of Music in New York City. She first won widespread acclaim in Europe, appearing in George Gershwin's Porgy and Bess in Vienna, Berlin, London and Paris. Returning to the United States, she enjoyed immediate success on the concert stage. Any doubts about the American public's willingness to accept her in roles traditionally played by white singers were dispelled by her performance in a nationally televised performance of Tosca in 1955. Over the next few years, she appeared in concert with America's leading orchestras and toured India as a goodwill ambassador for the U.S. State Department. She made her long-awaited Metropolitan Opera debut in Il Trovatore in 1961, prompting one of the longest ovations in the Met's history. Hundreds of performances at the Met followed. As a representative of America's achievements in the arts Leontyne Price was repeatedly called upon to perform at the White House, to welcome Pope John Paul II and to celebrate the signing of the peace accord between Egypt and Israel. In 1985, she bid farewell performance to the operatic stage with a nationally televised performance of Aida at the Met. She continued to appear in concert for another decade, performing across Europe and the United States in a program of selected arias, American spirituals, and art songs in English, French and German. Although Leontyne Price retired from the concert stage in 1997, she made a special appearance at the 2001 memorial concert for the victims of the September 11 terrorist attacks. This podcast was recorded at the 1991 International Achievement Summit in New York City.