Little Known Black History Fact: Leontyne Price
Leontyne Price is largely regarded as the first African-American opera singer to gain worldwide recognition. Ms. Price, an award-winning and beloved vocalist, didn’t set out to be an opera singer at first, but changed course much to the world’s benefit.
Price was born Mary Violet Leontyne Price on February 10, 1927 in Laurel, Miss. Her working-class parents instilled a love of music in her. Her father, a plumber, and her mother, a midwife and singer, brought Price a piano was she was a girl and enrolled her in classes. That led to Price singing in a local church throughout elementary and high school.
Price enrolled in Wilberforce University with the intention of becoming a music teacher. However, her standout glee club performances led teachers to suggest that Price study voice. Her abilities as a singer grew and Price was later awarded a full scholarship to the Julliard School of Music in New York. Singers Betty Allen and Paul Robeson put on a benefit concert that led to Price’s admission to the famed school.
After making her opera debut in 1952 in a school production of Verdi’s Falstaff play, Price starred in a run for Porgy and Bess which went on a U.S. and European tour. Price, inspired as a teenager by vocalist Marian Anderson, focused on singing recitals only and didn’t at first consider operatic work. But the grand stage of the opera kept calling, and Price made her debut in 1957 in San Francisco.
