February 1, 2012
Opera star Camilla Williams has died aged 92.
The Associated Press reports that Williams — the first African American to receive a contract with a major American opera company, and a professor emeritus at the Indiana University Jacobs School of Music — died at her home in Bloomington, Indiana on Sunday, January 29.
A spokesperson for the music school said the cause was complications from cancer.
Williams’ illustrious career began when she made her debut as Cio-Cio-San in Puccini’s Madame Butterfly with the New York City Opera in 1946. A review of her performance in the New York Times said she sang with “a vividness and subtlety unmatched by any other artist who has assayed the part here in many a year.” The part eventually became her signature role.
She went on to break down racial barriers worldwide, becoming the first black artist to ever sing a major role with the Vienna State Opera in 1954 and was the first black professor at Beijing’s Central Conservatory in 1983.
In 1963, she had the honour of performing just before Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s “I Have a Dream” speech at the civil rights march in Washington, D.C.
Williams retired from performing in 1971 and shifted her efforts exclusively to teaching. In 1977 she became the first African American professor of voice at the Jacobs School of Music, and continued working in education until her late 70s.
Williams is predeceased by her husband Charles T. Beavers also originally from Danville and who was one of the main attorneys for Malcolm X.
(Image: United States Library of Congress via Wikimedia Commons)






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