UM: Obituary

Shirley Verrett, an internationally known opera singer who taught at UM, is memorialized in The New York Times following her death Friday morning in Ann Arbor at age 79. From the Times’ obituary: “In the early days, like black artists before her, she experienced racial prejudice, as she recounts in her memoir, ‘I Never Walked Alone.’ In 1959 the conductor Leopold Stokowski hired her to sing the Wood Dove in a performance of Schoenberg’s ‘Gurrelieder’ with the Houston Symphony, but the orchestra’s board would not allow a black soloist to appear. To make amends, a shaken Stokowski took Ms. Verrett to the Philadelphia Orchestra for a performance of Falla’s ‘Amor Brujo,’ which led to a fine recording.” [Source]