How Old Is Leontyne Price? Leontyne Price Birthday
Leontyne Price was born on February 10, 1927 and is 97 years old now.
Birthday: February 10, 1927
How Old - Age: 97
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Leontyne Price - Biography
Mary Violet Leontyne Price (born February 10, 1927) is an American soprano. Born and raised in Laurel, Mississippi, she rose to international acclaim in the 1950s and 1960s, and was one of the first African Americans to become a leading artist at the Metropolitan Opera.
In November 1954, Price made her recital debut at New York's Town Hall with a program that featured the New York premiere of Samuel Barber's cycle Hermit Songs, with the composer at the piano. Her first recital tour followed on the Columbia Artists roster. The door to opera opened through the NBC Opera Theater, under music director Peter Herman Adler. In January 1955, she sang the title role of Puccini's Tosca, becoming the first African American in a leading role in televised opera. Price sang in three later NBC Opera broadcasts, as Pamina in The Magic Flute (1956), Madame Lidoine in Poulenc's Dialogues of the Carmelites (1957), and Donna Anna in Don Giovanni (1960). Although the Tosca broadcast was shown without incident (her appearance had not been widely advertised), several NBC affiliates (including some north of the Mason–Dixon line) canceled the later broadcasts.
Her grand opera debut occurred in San Francisco on September 20, 1957, as Madame Lidoine in the U.S. premiere of the Dialogues of the Carmelites. A few weeks later, Price sang her first staged Aida, stepping in for Italian soprano Antonietta Stella, who was suffering appendicitis. After her European debut, as Aida, at the Vienna Staatsoper on May 24, 1958, she made noted debuts at London's Royal Opera House (replacing Anita Cerquetti), and at the Arena di Verona, both as Aida. In 1958-59, she returned to Vienna to sing Aida and her first onstage Pamina; repeated her Aida at Covent Garden; gave a televised recital with Gerald Moore and sang operatic scenes by Richard Strauss on BBC Radio; and made her debut at the Salzburg Festival in Beethoven's Missa Solemnis, conducted by Karajan.
Most of Leontyne Price's commercial recordings were issued by RCA Victor Red Seal and include three complete recordings of Il trovatore, two of La forza del destino, two of Aida, two of Verdi's Requiem, two of Tosca, and one each of Ernani, Un ballo in maschera, Carmen, Madama Butterfly, Cosí fan tutte, Don Giovanni (as Donna Elvira), Il tabarro and (her final complete opera recording) Ariadne auf Naxos. She also recorded a disc of highlights from Porgy and Bess, singing the music of all three female leads. It was conducted by Skitch Henderson and featured William Warfield as Porgy.
