47 Facts About Jessye Norman

Jessye Mae Norman was an American opera singer and recitalist.

Jessye Norman was able to perform dramatic soprano roles, but did not limit herself to that voice type.

Jessye Norman trained at Howard University, the Peabody Institute, and the University of Michigan.

Jessye Norman's career began in Europe, where she won the ARD International Music Competition in Munich in 1968, which led to a contract with the Deutsche Oper Berlin.

Jessye Norman made her first operatic appearance in the US in 1982 with the Opera Company of Philadelphia, when cast as Jocasta in Stravinsky's Oedipus rex, and as Dido in Purcell's Dido and Aeneas.

Jessye Norman went on to sing leading roles with many other companies, including the Metropolitan Opera, the Lyric Opera of Chicago, the Paris Opera, and the Royal Opera, London.

Jessye Norman sang at the 1996 Summer Olympics opening ceremony in Atlanta and for the second inauguration of Bill Clinton in 1997.

Jessye Norman sang and recorded recitals of music by Franz Schubert, Johannes Brahms, Richard Strauss, Gustav Mahler, Ernest Chausson and Francis Poulenc, among others.

Jessye Norman was one of five children in a family of amateur musicians; her mother and grandmother were both pianists, and her father sang in a local choir.

When Jessye Norman was nine she was given a radio for her birthday and soon discovered the world of opera through the weekly broadcasts of the Metropolitan Opera, which she listened to every Saturday.

Jessye Norman started listening to recordings of Marian Anderson and Leontyne Price, both of whom Norman credited as inspiring figures in her career.

Jessye Norman continued to take voice lessons privately with Ms.

Jessye Norman studied at the Interlochen Center for the Arts in Northern Michigan in the opera performance program.

In 1965, along with 33 other female students and four female faculty, Jessye Norman became a founding member of the Delta Nu chapter of Sigma Alpha Iota music fraternity.

Jessye Norman performed as a guest with German and Italian opera companies, often portraying noble characters convincingly, both by appearance and by unique voice which was both flexible and powerful.

In 1972, Jessye Norman made her first appearance at La Scala, where she sang the title role in Verdi's Aida and at The Royal Opera at Covent Garden, London, where she appeared as Cassandra in Les Troyens by Berlioz.

Jessye Norman was Aida again in a concert version that same year in her first well-publicized American performance at the Hollywood Bowl for the venue's 50th anniversary celebration.

Jessye Norman briefly returned to the United States to give her first New York City recital as part of the "Great Performers" series in Alice Tully Hall at Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts in 1973.

In 1975, Jessye Norman moved to London and had no staged opera appearances for the next five years.

Jessye Norman remained internationally active as a recitalist and soloist in works such as Mendelssohn's Elijah and Franck's Les Beatitudes.

Jessye Norman returned to North America again in 1976 and 1977 to make an extensive concert tour.

Jessye Norman toured Europe throughout the 1970s, giving recitals of works by Schubert, Mahler, Wagner, Brahms, Satie, Messiaen, and several contemporary American composers, to great critical acclaim.

In October 1980, Jessye Norman returned to the operatic stage in the title role of Ariadne auf Naxos by Richard Strauss at the Hamburg State Opera in Germany.

In 1986, Jessye Norman sang God Save the Queen for Queen Elizabeth II's 60th-birthday celebration.

Jessye Norman performed Arnold Schoenberg's Gurre-Lieder and his one-woman opera Erwartung.

Jessye Norman performed at the Hong Kong Cultural Centre opening and gave a recital at the National Theater and Concert Hall in Taipei.

Also in 1989, Jessye Norman was invited to sing the French national anthem, La Marseillaise, to celebrate the 200th anniversary of the French Revolution on July 14.

Jessye Norman's rendition was delivered at the Place de la Concorde in Paris, in a costume designed by Azzedine Alaia as part of an elaborate pageant orchestrated by avant-garde designer Jean-Paul Goude.

Jessye Norman performed at Tchaikovsky's 150th Birthday Gala in Leningrad and appeared at the Lyric Opera of Chicago in the title role of Gluck's Alceste in 1990.

Jessye Norman sang American spirituals with soprano Kathleen Battle at Carnegie Hall that year.

Jessye Norman sang Jocasta in Stravinsky's Oedipus rex at the opening operatic production at the new Saito Kinen Festival in the Japanese Alps near Matsumoto in 1992.

In 1994, Jessye Norman sang at the funeral of former first lady Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis.

Jessye Norman was again the featured soloist with the New York Philharmonic, then conducted by Kurt Masur, in a gala concert telecast for the opening of the orchestra's 153rd season in 1995.

Jessye Norman gave a highly lauded performance as the title character of Janacek's The Makropulos Affair when it was first performed at the Met in 1996.

Jessye Norman performed at the 1996 Summer Olympics opening ceremony in Atlanta, singing "Faster, Higher, Stronger".

Jessye Norman sang Mahler's Das Lied von der Erde, with the Boston Symphony Orchestra conducted by Seiji Ozawa.

In February and March 2001, Jessye Norman was featured at Carnegie Hall in a three-part concert series.

On March 11,2002, Jessye Norman performed "America the Beautiful" at a service unveiling two monumental columns of light at the site of the former World Trade Center, as a memorial for the victims of the September 11,2001, terrorist attacks on New York City.

In 2006, Jessye Norman collaborated with the modern dance choreographer Trey McIntyre for a special performance during the summer at the Vail Dance Festival.

Jessye Norman served on the boards of directors for Carnegie Hall, City-Meals-on-Wheels in New York City, the Dance Theatre of Harlem, the New York Botanical Garden, the New York Public Library, National Music Foundation, and the Elton John AIDS Foundation.

In March 2013, the Apollo Theater and Manhattan School of Music featured Jessye Norman in Ask Your Mama, a 90-minute multimedia show by Laura Karpman based on Langston Hughes's "Ask Your Mama: 12 Moods for Jazz".

In March 2014, Jessye Norman was featured at The Green Music Center Weill Hall on the campus of Sonoma State University in Rohnert Park, California, in a recital of American standards in tributes to the likes of George Gershwin, Duke Ellington and Ella Fitzgerald.

Jessye Norman died at Mount Sinai Morningside in Manhattan on September 30,2019, aged 74.

In September 2021 it was reported that Jessye Norman's brother had pursued legal action for alleged medical negligence against the doctors and hospital involved in an operation on her in 2015.

Jessye Norman was memorialized with a gala tribute at the Metropolitan Opera House, New York City, on November 24,2019.

Jessye Norman was actively involved in the program, including fundraisers for its benefit.

Jessye Norman received honorary doctorates from more than 30 colleges, universities, and conservatories.