This week, host Naomi Lewin speaks to the internationally renowned mezzo-soprano, Denyce Graves, who fell "in love hopelessly" with opera and followed her passion into a successful career.
As a little girl, Graves grew up in a religious household singing gospel songs. While in school, she found a library recording of the great African-American soprano Leontyne Price "singing this strange thing called opera ... and we thought if she could do it, we could do it." Listen to Graves discuss how she trained and developed a voice large enough to fill the world's most famous opera houses and the fascinating characters she portrays on their stages.
Program Playlist:
Gluck: "Che faro" from Orfeo
Gospel Music
Saint-Saëns: SAMSON AND DELILAH
Puccini: La Rondine
Mascagni: "Voi lo sapete" from Cavalleria Rusticana
Donizetti: "O mio Fernando" from La Favorita
Bizet: Seguidilla from Carmen
Verdi: Triumphal March from Aida