Nog altijd kunnen websites mij verbazen wat informatie over zwarte operazangers betreft. Zo lees ik vandaag op On this day: “1933 Caterina Jarboro sings “Aida” at the New York Hippodrome, becoming the 1st black female opera singer to perform in the US”. Dit is alweer een zangeres waarvan ik nog nooit heb gehoord. Ik vind het wel schitterend dat ze de rol van Aida vertolkte, want zelfs tot op de dag van vandaag houdt men er vaak geen rekening mee dat zij eigenlijk een Afrikaanse was!
According to the June 1900 census, Jarboro was born in 1898 as Katherine (Katie) Lee Yarborough in Wilmington, North Carolina. Her father was African-American and her mother was Native-American.
Jarboro studied in North Carolina and then in New York. She sang in the theater musical Shuffle Along and in James P.Johnson’s Running Wild. In 1930 she debuted in opera with Verdi’s Aida at the Puccini Theatre in Milan, Italy.
In 1933, twenty-two years before Marian Anderson’s début at the Metropolitan Opera, impresario Alfredo Salmaggi hired Jarboro to sing with his opera company at the New York Hippodrome. She was presented in the title role of Verdi’s Aida. Later she appeared with the company as Sélika in Meyerbeer’s L’Africaine. She was the first female black opera singer ever to sing on an opera stage in America (baritone Jules Bledsoe had sung Amonasro at the Chicago Opera in 1930). This milestone earned Salmaggi (*) special recognition from First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt. Many other opera appearances throughout Europe followed. She returned to the United States in 1941. Among her performances were recitals at the Town Hall in 1942 and Carnegie Hall in 1944. She retired in 1955.
Jarboro died in August 13, 1986 in Manhattan. She is believed to have been 88 years old. [Wikipedia]
(*) Haar bedoelingen waren ongetwijfeld nobel, maar het is toch raar dat het de impresario is die wordt beloond en niet de zangeres zelf!
dagelijks iets degelijks 