1. Lillian Evanti was an American soprano, composer, and civil rights advocate who broke racial barriers in classical music.
23 Facts About Lillian Evanti
1. 2.
Lillian Evanti was a prolific recitalist, an esteemed composer, and a trailblazer for Black artists in classical music, advocating for racial equality in the arts, performing for First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt at the White House, and marching alongside civil rights leaders in the 1963 March on Washington.
3.
Lillian Evanti's paternal grandfather, Henry Evans, was born in North Carolina as a free black man and later moved to Oberlin, Ohio, where he helped with the Underground Railroad.
4.
Lillian Evanti graduated from Howard University with a bachelor's degree in music.
5.
At her commencement in May 1917, Lillian Evanti sang French, German, and English as well as American songs that brought her national attention by the black press, such as the New York Age.
6.
Lillian Evanti hoped that in France, she would finally find her voice.
7.
In Paris, Lillian Evanti studied voice with French soprano Gabrielle Ritter-Ciampi and, within the year, moved to Nice, where her instructor advised her to audition at the local opera houses.
8.
Lillian Evanti debuted in 1925 in Delibes's Lakme at Nice, France.
9.
Lillian Evanti has made a special study of it and is very much interested in the general progress of the Negro.
10.
Finally, in 1927, Lillian Evanti was invited to sing in Paris.
11.
Lillian Evanti was no longer an American singing in French, she was an artist of rare ability; she was all that Delibes himself could have desired in his heroine.
12.
In September 1925, while visiting her family, Lillian Evanti found that Roy had left their house and was ill.
13.
Lillian Evanti says her husband after urging her to pursue her career has tried to make it appear that her ambition is the cause of their separation.
14.
Lillian Evanti toured throughout Europe and South America as an opera singer and concert artist.
15.
Lillian Evanti left Europe at the height of her career to sing opera in her native country.
16.
Lillian Evanti auditioned for them two more times, the last time in 1946 at the age of fifty-six.
17.
Nevertheless, Lillian Evanti continued to sing from 1932 to 1935 in the United States to praise and acclaim for the "tonal beauty of her voice", including a private recital at the White House for an audience of Eleanor Roosevelt and her friends.
18.
In 1943, Lillian Evanti performed with the Watergate Theater barge on the Potomac River.
19.
In 1944, Lillian Evanti appeared at The Town Hall.
20.
Lillian Evanti received acclaim as Violetta in Verdi's La traviata as produced by the National Negro Opera Company in 1945.
21.
Lillian Evanti explained that "La Traviata" is offering her an opportunity to translate the role of Violetta in English, in order that a better understanding will be afforded those witnessing the performance.
22.
Lillian Evanti continued to give concerts and recitals nationwide and, in the 1940s, began to spend more time composing.
23.
In 1963, Lillian Evanti walked with her friend Alma Thomas in the March on Washington.