Joyce Mathis was an American soprano who was a concert artist, recitalist, and opera singer from the 1960s into the early 1990s.
16 Facts About Joyce Mathis
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Joyce Mathis is considered a part of the first generation of black classical singers to achieve success in the United States; breaking down racial barriers within the field of classical music.
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Joyce Mathis won several notable singing competitions, including the Marian Anderson Award in 1967 and the Young Concert Artists in 1968.
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Joyce Mathis appeared frequently in performances with Opera Ebony and the Boys Choir of Harlem in addition to touring widely as a recitalist and concert soprano.
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Joyce Mathis then pursued graduate studies at the Juilliard School where she was a pupil of Florence Kimball, the teacher of Leontyne Price.
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In 1964 Joyce Mathis was a regional winner of the Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions.
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Joyce Mathis performed with the American Opera Society at Carnegie Hall in 1967 in the role of Clotilda in Bellini's Norma with Elena Souliotis in the title role and Nancy Tatum as Adalgisa; and she created the role of Gismonda in Thomas Pasatieri's Padrevia at the Brooklyn Academy of Music.
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In 1968 Joyce Mathis won the Young Concert Artists competition which led to her New York recital debut at the Weill Recital Hall of Carnegie Hall in March 1969.
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In 1970 Joyce Mathis recorded the role of the High Priestess in Giuseppe Verdi's Aida with Leontyne Price in the title role, Luciano Pavarotti as Radames, Grace Bumbry as Amneris, and the London Symphony Orchestra, conducted by Erich Leinsdorf.
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Joyce Mathis debuted the work at Alice Tully Hall on November 4,1976.
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In 1976 Mathis created the role of Celestina in the world premiere of Roger Ames's opera Amistad at the John F Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts.
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In 1982 Joyce Mathis was the soprano soloist in the world premiere of George Walker's Cantata for Soprano, Tenor, Boys Choir, and Chamber Orchestra with tenor Walter Turnbull, the Boys Choir of Harlem, the Orchestra of St Luke's, and conductor Warren George Wilson.
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Joyce Mathis performed that work again in 1986 at Chicago's Orchestra Hall with conductor Paul Freeman, the Orchestra of Illinois, and the Boys Choir of Harlem.
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Joyce Mathis performed with Opera Ebony again in 1987 as Irina in Weill's Lost in the Stars.
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In 1993 Joyce Mathis was the soprano soloist in Villa-Lobos' Bachianas Brasileiras with the Boys Choir of Harlem at the Richard Rodgers Theatre.
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The April 2009 obituary for her sister Margaret in The Chattanoogan mentions that Joyce Mathis preceded her in death.