BLACK AMERICAN SINGER GRACE BUMBRY IS DEAD. L´OFFICIEL: NUIT DES MUSÉES À PARIS 2023

 American mezzo-soprano Grace Bumbry sings the role of mother during

Treemonishathe opera by Afro-American ragtime composer Scott Joplin, directed by Spanish dancer and choreographer Blanca Li, on March 29, 2010 at the Théâtre du Châtelet in Paris. JOEL SAGET / AFP

American Grace Bumbry, the first black singer to perform at the Bayreuth Festival in 1961, died on May 7, 2023 in Vienna at the age of 86, her son announced.

American Grace Bumbry, the first black singer to sing at the Bayreuth Festival in 1961, died Sunday in Vienna at the age of 86, her son announced on Monday. Victim of a stroke in October while she was traveling to New York to receive a reward for her career, this opera star returned a few weeks later to the Austrian capital, her adopted city.

It was there that she died in hospital, according to her adopted son David Lee Brewer, quoted by the APA news agency. Her funeral should take place in Saint-Louis, Missouri, where she was born on January 4, 1937. The daughter of a teacher and a railroad employee, she was taken as a child to a concert by Marian Anderson, the first black artist to tackle lyrical singing.

It was a revelation that led the mezzo soprano to make her debut at the Paris Opera at the age of 23. Noticed, she was chosen by Wieland Wagner, the composer’s grandson Richard Wagner, to embody Tannhäuser’s Venus at the Bayreuth Festival. Indifferent to racist reactions in a then closed environment, Grace Bumbry becomes the first person of color to land a major role in this renowned place, achieving international glory, according to the biography published on her website.

Lamborghini, jewelry and haute couture

“The public gave him a 30-minute ovation and the troupe was called back on stage 42 times.“, says the Kennedy Center, which had distinguished it in 2009 by saluting “her unique voice, her stage presence» and his ease in changing vocal register, from mezzo soprano to soprano. The diva, who loved Lamborghinijewelery and haute couture outfits, will perform on the most prestigious stages, from La Scala to the Met, as an interpreter of the Italian repertoire (Verdi), but also French (Bizet’s Carmen).

Among her many titles, she had been named Honorary Amb***ador of Unesco and had received in Paris the insignia of Commander of the Order of Arts and Letters. In a statement, Austrian State Secretary for Culture Andrea Mayer praised “an icon of opera and a pioneer for generations of opera singers“. “With her legendary debut in Bayreuth in the 1960s, she made a decisive contribution to equal rights in the world of opera“, she pointed out.

https://newsinfrance.com/black-american-singer-grace-bumbry-is-dead/

Nuit des Musées 2023 : le programme complet à Paris La 19e édition de la Nuit européenne des musées se déroule ce samedi soir. La plupart des musées parisiens seront en accès libre et gratuit. Découvrez le programme, musée par musée ••• Et aussi... : • La Maison de Victor Hugo fête ses 120 ans Une exposition-anniversaire qui met à l'honneur les collections et la maison où Victor Hugo vécut de 1832 à 1848. • Norman Foster au Centre Pompidou Avec plusieurs centaines de projets étudiés ou réalisés à une échelle mondiale, l'architecte aura investi toute la complexité des organisations des grandes sociétés industrielles. • Plantu - Reza, regards croisés au Musée de l'Homme Le dessinateur de presse et le photojournaliste font dialoguer leurs pratiques et leurs visions du monde.