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“The voice is a wonderful thing, but I like realism. I want the audience to feel what I’m doing. There must be real activity going on…I believe that movement cannot be staid and studied. It must come from what the character is doing, and you must have something going on as a performer as well as a singer.” —Leontyne Price, Highlights of a Prima Donna, 1973 American soprano Leontyne Price (b. 1927) started her career in 1952 as Bess in a two-year traveling production of American pianist and composer George Gershwin’s (1898–1937) folk opera Porgy and Bess, which featured a groundbreaking all-Black cast. In 1955 Price was engaged by NBC Opera Theatre to sing the lead role in a telecast of Italian composer Giacomo Puccini’s (1858–1924) Tosca. While the opera was a hit in most areas, eleven of NBC’s affiliate stations in the South rejected the performance of a Black singer with a White cast. Undaunted, Price became one of the top stars at San Francisco Opera and the Metropolitan Opera in New York, retiring from the stage in 1985. Learn more about San Francisco Opera’s history in our exhibition “San Francisco Opera: A Centennial Celebration” on display, post-security, in Harvey Milk Terminal 1 and online at: https://bit.ly/SFOperaCentennial
This image was posted on February 06, 2023.