Leontyne Price

Everett Collection / Shutterstock.com

Profession: Opera Soprano

Nationality:

Biography: One of the first African Americans to become a leading artist at the Metropolitan Opera in the 1960s.

A soprano, Price's voice was especially suited to the works of Giacomo Puccini, Giuseppe Verdi and Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. In 1966 she was chosen to sing the lead the reopening of the Met in its new purpose-designed Lincoln Centre in New York in "Anthony and Cleopatra"

Price is the recipient of many awards including the US Presidential Medal of Freedom and 9 Grammys.

Born: February 10, 1927
Birthplace: Laurel, Mississippi, USA
Age: 97 years old

Generation: Greatest Generation
Chinese Zodiac: Rabbit
Star Sign: Aquarius

Married Life

1952-08-31 American operatic soprano Leontyne Price (25) weds American concert bass-baritone singer William Warfield (32); divorce in 1973

Historical Events

1957-09-20 Leontyne Price makes her operatic stage debut singing Madame Lidoine in the US premiere of "Dialogues of the Carmelites" in San Francisco
1960-05-21 Leontyne Price becomes the first African American to sing the lead at Teatro alla Scala in Milan in "Aida"
1961-01-27 Leontyne Price and Franco Corelli make debuts at the Metropolitan Opera in New York in "Il trovatore"; final curtain call lasts 35 minutes
1966-09-16 Metropolitan Opera House opens in Lincoln Center, New York with Leontyne Price as Cleopatra in "Antony and Cleopatra" by Samuel Barber
1985-01-03 Leontyne Price makes her final operatic appearance in a televised performance of "Aida" at the Metropolitan Opera, New York.