Shirley Verrett
Shirley Verrett (May 31, 1931 – November 5, 2010)[1] was an American operatic mezzo-soprano who successfully transitioned into soprano roles making her a Soprano sfogato. Verrett enjoyed great fame from the late 1960s through the 1990s; she was particularly well known for singing the works of Verdi and Donizetti.
Early life and education[edit]
Born into an African-American family of devout Catholics in New Orleans, Louisiana, Verrett was raised in Los Angeles, California. She recalled in her memoir that her mother went from being a strict Catholic to an even stricter Seventh-Day Adventist,[2] and she and her siblings were educated in a Seventh Day Adventist school system.[3] She sang in church and showed early musical abilities,[4] but initially a singing career was frowned upon by her family.
Verrett attended Oakwood University, a private historically black Seventh-Day Adventist university in Huntsville, Alabama, for a semester in 1949, but then returned to southern California and completed an associate degree in real estate at Ventura College. Though successful as a real estate agent, Verrett reconsidered her career choice and started serious voice study. In 1955 she won in two California competitions sponsored by the Young Musicians Foundation and later that year appeared on Talent Scouts, a national television show hosted by Arthur Godfrey. Her appearance on that program led to a scholarship at the Juilliard School New York. Verrett went on to study with Anna Fitziu and with Marion Szekely Freschl at Juilliard. In 1961 she won the Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions.[5]
Autobiography[edit]
In 2003, Shirley Verrett published a memoir, I Never Walked Alone (ISBN 0-471-20991-0), in which she spoke frankly about the racism she encountered as a black person in the American classical music world. When the conductor Leopold Stokowski invited her to sing with the Houston Symphony in the early 1960s, he had to rescind his invitation when the orchestra board refused to accept a black soloist. Stokowski later made amends by giving her a prestigious date with the Philadelphia Orchestra.[11]
Family[edit]
Verrett married twice, first in 1951, to real estate broker and sheriff's deputy James L. Carter. However, Verrett experienced abusive treatment from her husband and they divorced in 1959.[12] In 1963, she wed artist Louis Lo Monaco. She was survived by Lo Monaco and their adopted daughter Francesca and their granddaughter.[13] A nephew is Durek Verrett.
Death[edit]
Verrett died in Ann Arbor, Michigan, aged 79, on November 5, 2010, from heart failure following an undisclosed illness.[14] An ongoing annual Shirley Verrett Award, that recognizes “a faculty member whose performance, scholarship, or service supports the success of female students or faculty in the arts who come from diverse cultural and racial backgrounds” was established in 2011 by the University of Michigan in her honor.[15]