She sang on the stages of the major opera houses in London, Milan and New York. In Bayreuth she became known as the first black singer. The opera world mourns Grace Bumbry, who has now died at the age of 86.
The famous US opera singer Grace Bumbry has died in her adopted home of Vienna. The mezzo-soprano and soprano died in a hospital at the age of 86 as a result of a severe stroke, as her adoptive son David Brewer told the German Press Agency.
Discovered at the age of twelve
Bumbry was born in 1937 in St. Louis, Missouri. She grew up in a musical family. She sang in the church choir with her brothers. Her talent did not remain hidden for long. When she was about twelve, she sang to singer Marian Anderson, whom she admired. This encounter led to a deal with Anderson’s legendary manager Sol Hurok.
Bumbry studied with the German singer Lotte Lehmann, who had emigrated to the USA, and was not only trained as an opera singer, but also as a lieder singer. Songs helped Bumbry to put herself in opera roles, as she told dpa on her 85th birthday: “Both are about dramatic music.”
First black singer in Bayreuth
After Bumbry sang her first concert in Europe in London in 1959, she appeared in Paris in 1960 as Amneris in the Verdi opera “Aida”. A year later, the 24-year-old became known worldwide with her acclaimed performance in Bayreuth and was then dubbed “Black Venus” in the media. Before her Bayreuth debut, she was criticized for her skin color. However, she was undeterred. “That was nothing new for me,” she told the dpa. “I put on a protective cloak. My job was to study and represent Venus.”
The title role in Carmen was one of Bumbry’s signature roles as a mezzo-soprano, as were Amneris in Aida, Eboli in Don Carlos and Lady Macbeth in Macbeth. When she began struggling with voice problems, her doctors advised her to switch to a higher pitched voice. As a soprano she sang the title roles in Richard Strauss’ “Salome”, Cherubini’s “Medea” and Janacek’s “Jenufa”.
Burial in St Louis
Bumbry remained active as a singing teacher and judge at competitions into old age. According to her adopted son, Brewer, Bumbry will be buried in her native St. Louis. Brewer wants to organize concerts in memory of the singer in Vienna’s St. Stephen’s Cathedral, in New York and in St. Louis, he said.