Harolyn Blackwell

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Harolyn Blackwell (b. 1955) is an African-American lyric coloratura soprano who has graced many of the world's finest opera houses, concert halls, and theaters in operas, oratorios, recitals, and Broadway musicals.

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[edit] Biography

Harolyn Blackwell was born in Washington D.C. on November 23, 1955.[1] She attended Catholic University where she studied voice.[2] Following college, Blackwell began her career on Broadway when Leonard Bernstein hand picked her for the role of Frasquita and the understudy for Maria in the 1980 revival of West Side Story. As Frasquita, Blackwell sang the song Somewhere from the orchestra pit during the final scene of the musical.[3] In 1983, Blackwell won the Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions, and her career path reoriented towards opera. "It fit so naturally," she explains of the then new foray into opera, "it was as if I'd put on a pair of old shoes." Following her win, Blackwell apprenticed and excelled at the Chicago Lyric Opera for a year.[4] In 1987 she made her Metropolitan Opera debut as Poussette in Manon.[5] Since then Blackwell's career has flourished. She has appeared several more times with the Metropolitan Opera in productions such as Un ballo in maschera, Le nozze di Figaro, Die Fledermaus, and Werther.[6] Most notably, in 1994 Blackwell replaced Kathleen Battle as Marie in La fille du régiment for the entire run when Battle was fired from the Met.[7]

Blackwell has performed with many major national and international opera companies, and at festivals around the world, including Lyric Opera of Chicago, Glyndebourne (as Clara in Porgy and Bess, subsequently issued on CD), Teatro Colón de Buenos Aires, Seattle Opera, Opéra de Nice, Miami Opera, Canadian Opera Company, Aix-en-Provence Festival, Opera Orchestra of New York, New York's Mostly Mozart Festival,[8] Tulsa Opera, San Francisco Opera, and Netherlands Opera.[9] In 1990 Blackwell performed at the Grammy Awards.[10] In 1997 Blackwell returned to Broadway to star as Cunegonde in Bernstein's Candide.[11] In 1999 Blackwell was invited to perform at the Vatican for Pope John Paul II's 80th birthday.[12]

To date these are some of the roles Blackwell has performed on the stages of major Opera houses: Lucia from Lucia di Lammermoor, Lakmé from Lakmé, Gilda from Rigoletto, Nanetta from Falstaff, Zdenka from Arabella, Constance from Les Dialogues des Carmélites, Marzelline from Fidelio, Blondchen from Die Entführung aus dem Serail, Giulietta from I Capuleti e i Montecchi, and Clara from Porgy and Bess.[13]

Also an accomplished singer of the concert repertoire and recitalist, she has performed with the Pittsburgh Symphony, the Cincinnati Symphony, the Dallas Symphony, the New York Philharmonic,[14], the Munich Philharmonic, the Oslo Philharmonic, the New Jersey Symphony, the NHK Symphony Orchestra, the Boston Pops and the London Symphony Orchestra.[15] Her concert work has included performances of Samuel Barber's Knoxville: Summer of 1915, Haydn's Die Schöpfung, André Previn's Honey and Rue, Mahler's Symphony No.4, Mozart's Requiem, and Orff's Carmina Burana among many others. Blackwell has also performed in many acclaimed concert series and given many lauded recitals over the years. She has performed at London's Wigmore Hall, Carnegie Hall's Weill Recital Hall, The San Francisco Performance Series at the Herbst Theatre and the Ambassador Foundation Performing Arts Series in Los Angeles.

Throughout her career Miss Blackwell has had the privilege of singing under some of the world's finest conductors including Herbert Blomstedt, James Conlon, Christoph von Dohnanyi, Charles Dutoit, Erich Kunzel, James Levine, Andrew Litton, Zdenek Macal, Kurt Masur, Trevor Pinnock, André Previn, Simon Rattle, Gerard Schwarz, Leonard Slatkin, and David Zinman.[16]

[edit] Awards

Ms. Blackwell is a recipient of numerous awards and honors, one of which provided her the opportunity to study in Italy with Renata Tebaldi and Carlo Bergonzi.[17] Early on in her career she won Baltimore Opera's Puccini Foundation Award, was a winner of the WGN-Illinois Opera Guild "Audition of the Air", was awarded two Career Grants from the Richard Tucker Music Foundation, and the Alumna of the Year Award from Catholic University. More recently, Siena College bestowed upon her an Honorary Doctorate of Humane Letters and she was awarded an Honorary Doctorate of Music from George Washington University.[18]

[edit] Watch and Listen

[edit] Discography

[edit] Solo recordings

  • Strange Hurt - 1994
  • Blackwell Sings Bernstein, a Simple Song - 1996
  • All Through The Night - 2006

[edit] Classical recordings

[edit] Musical recordings

  • Candide - 1997 - RCA Victor 09026-68835-2

[edit] DVD appearances

  • Sondheim - A Celebration at Carnegie Hall - 1993
  • Un ballo in maschera (Metropolitan Opera) - 1991

[edit] References

  1. ^ Harolyn Blackwell
  2. ^ Harolyn Blackwell
  3. ^ Harolyn Blackwell official web site
  4. ^ Melba Newsome, 'Harolyn Blackwell: coming full circle - Black singer moved from Broadway musicals to opera', American Visions, Dec-Jan, 1996
  5. ^ Metropolitan Opera Database
  6. ^ LA Phil Presents | About the Performer - Harolyn Blackwell
  7. ^ Melba Newsome, 'Harolyn Blackwell: coming full circle - Black singer moved from Broadway musicals to opera', American Visions, Dec-Jan, 1996
  8. ^ Harolyn Blackwell official web site
  9. ^ LA Phil Presents | About the Performer - Harolyn Blackwell
  10. ^ Program Notes, National Academies Concert February 13, 2005
  11. ^ sondheim.com
  12. ^ LA Phil Presents | About the Performer - Harolyn Blackwell
  13. ^ LA Phil Presents | About the Performer - Harolyn Blackwell
  14. ^ Columbia Artists Management
  15. ^ LA Phil Presents | About the Performer - Harolyn Blackwell
  16. ^ LA Phil Presents | About the Performer - Harolyn Blackwell
  17. ^ Harolyn Blackwell official web site
  18. ^ Harolyn Blackwell