Shirley Verrett
On this day in 1931, the internationally renowned opera singer and concert recitalist, Shirley Verrett was born. Listen to her perform Minué Cantado (Sung Minuet) by the cuban composer Joaquin Nin live from her Carnegie Hall Recital in 1965 with Charles Wadsworth:
Verrett was raised by her recently converted Adventist parents in New Orleans. Her father, Leon Verrett wished that his daughter become a recitalist in the tradition of Marian Anderon or Dorothy Maynor. In an effort to escape the overt racism in the south, the Verrett family packed up their lives and moved to Oxnard, California in 1943.
In 1948, at her father's encouragement, Verrett entered and won a preliminary round of the Atwater Kent Vocal Competition. She was heard by the celebrated baritone John Charles Thomas who offered her the opportunity to study voice with the celebrated soprano Lotte Lehman at the Music Academy of the West, but Verrett turned down the offer. From 1951 Verrett sold real estate for several years in the San Fernando Valley.
In 1955, she studied voice briefly with Madame Consoli, but switched to another teacher, Anna Fitzui. Whilst auditioning for Talent Scouts in New York, Verrett auditioned for the Julliard voice teacher Marion Szekely Freschl who persuaded her to enroll as a student. During her first semester at Julliard, she entered the Marian Anderson Voice Competition and tied for first place.
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| Shirley Verrett |
Although initially resistant to a career in opera, Verrett saw Maria Callas in a 1956 performance of Bellini's Norma, which saw a seminal shift towards a more serious focus on opera. In 1959 she was engaged by Leopold Stokowski to sing with the Houston Symphony Orchestra. The offer was withdrawn by the symphony board because of her race. Verrett did eventually perform with Stokowski, but with him directing the Philadelphia Orchestra. This engagement propelled her career, including a debut as Carmen with the Bolshoi Opera (the first African American singer to perform with the compant) and several recitals throughout the Soviet Union. Verrett was also engaged to sing the role of Adalgisa in Bellini's Norma, but took over the tile role during the Met tour - the very role in which she had seen the inspirational Maria Callas. This became another signature role and her favourite operatic heroine.
However, she had to withdraw from several performances due to illness. She suffered the most serious crisis of her career in 1987 when she was scheduled to sing Lady Macbeth (Verdi) in Rome. She had lost her voice, but she went onstage nevertheless and attempted to "speak" the role. Audience jeers forced her to withdraw before the conclusion of the act.
During the 1994-95 season Verrett sang Nettie Fowler in a Broadway production of Rodgers and Hammerstein's Carousel which garnered her more critical acclaim. During her Broadway run, Verrett met and sang for Bishop Desmond Tutu who thanked her for not performing in apartheid South Africa, although she had received several lucrative offers to perform there.
In 1996, Verrett accepted a professorship at the University of Michigan and was eventually endowed as the James Earl Jones Distinguished Professor of Voice. In 1999 her singing voice appeared on the sound track of the Academy Award-winning Italian movie, La Vita e Bella.
Shirley Verrett passed away on November 5, 2010 in Ann Arbor, Michigan from heart failure.
Sources: shirleyverrett.com (Christopher A. Brooks), Wikipedia
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