BLACK SOCIAL HISTORY : AFRICAN AMERICAN " CAMILLA ELLA WILLIAMS " WAS AN OPERATIC SOPRANO WHO PREFORMED NATIONALLY AND INTERNATIONALLY : GOES INTO THE " HALL OF BLACK GENIUS "

           BLACK    SOCIAL    HISTORY                                                                                                                                                                                                      

Camilla Williams

BLACK                SOCIAL              HISTORY

Camilla Williams, photo taken by Carl Van Vechten, 1946.

Camilla Ella Williams (October 18, 1919 – January 29, 2012) was an American operatic soprano who performed nationally and internationally. After studying with renowned teachers in New York City, she was the first African American to receive a regular contract with a major American opera company, the New York City Opera.^[1] She had earlier won honors in vocal competitions and the Marian Anderson Fellowship in 1943-44.

In 1954 she became the first African American to sing a major role with the Vienna State Opera. She later also performed as a soloist with numerous European orchestras. As a concert artist, she toured throughout the United States as well as Asia, Australia and New Zealand. In 1977, she was the first African American appointed as Professor of Voice at Indiana University, where she taught until 1997.

Early life and education

On October 18, 1919, Camilla Ella Williams was born in Danville, Virginia, to Fannie Carey Williams and Cornelius Booker Williams, who worked as a chauffeur. She was the youngest of four children (Mary, Helen, and Cornelius).

"My grandparents and parents were self-taught musicians; all of them sang, and there was always music in our home."^{[citation needed]} Camilla's grandfather, Alexander Carey, was a choir leader and singer. "All my people sing. We were poor, but God blessed us with music."^{[citation needed]} By the age of eight, Camilla was dancing, playing the piano, and singing at school and Danville's Calvary Baptist Church.^{[citation needed]}

Williams trained at Virginia State College (now Virginia State University). After earning a B.S. there, she studied privately in New York, eventually with the great teacher Marion Szekely Freschl (who taught at Juilliard). She earned a Marian Anderson Fellowship in 1943 and again in 1944. She continued to receive honors in vocal competitions.

Career

Beginning in 1944, Williams performed on the coast-to-coast RCA radio network. In 1946 she was the first African American to receive a regular contract with a major American opera company, making her debut with the New York City Opera in the title role in Puccini's Madama Butterfly.^[2] Her performance was hailed by the New York Times critic as "an instant and pronounced success."^[1] During the next six years, she performed Nedda in Leoncavallo's Pagliacci, Mimi in Puccini's La bohème, and the title role in Verdi's Aida.^[2]

Williams sang throughout the United States and Europe with various other opera companies. In 1951 she sang Bess in the landmark, first complete recording of Gershwin's Porgy and Bess.^[2] Under the baton of Lehman Engel, this recording is considered by some to be the most authentic recorded performance of the opera and brought Williams international recognition.^{[citation needed]}

In 1954 she became the first African American to sing a major role with the Vienna State Opera, and performed her signature role in Madama Butterfly. In 1963, as part of the civil rights March on Washington, she sang "The Star-Spangled Banner" at the White House and before 250,000 people at the Lincoln Memorial, preceding Martin Luther King, Jr.'s "I Have a Dream" speech.

A noted concert artist, Williams toured throughout the United States, in fourteen African countries, as well as numerous countries in Asia: Formosa, South Korea, China, Japan, Laos, South Vietnam, the Philippines, New Zealand and Australia.^[2] In addition, she was a soloist with the Royal Philharmonic, BBC Symphony, Berlin Philharmonic, Vienna Symphony, Chicago Symphony, Philadelphia Orchestra and the New York Philharmonic under the direction of Leopold Stokowski. In 1950 she recorded Mahler's Symphony No. 8 with Stokowski and the New York Philharmonic.

Williams was the first African-American Professor of Voice appointed to the voice faculty of what is now known as the Indiana University Jacobs School of Music in 1977. In 1984 she became the first African-American instructor at the Central Conservatory of Music in Beijing, China. In 1997 Camilla Williams became a Professor Emerita of Voice at Indiana University Jacobs School of Music, but continued to teach privately.^[2]

Marriage and family

In 1950, Williams married Charles T. Beavers, a civil rights lawyer who worked closely with Malcolm X. He died in 1969.^[1]

From 2000 to 2011, she lived in companionship with her accompanist Boris Bazala, from Bulgaria.^[1]

Legacy and honors[

• 1995, she was the inaugural recipient of the National Opera Association's "Lift Every Voice" Legacy Award, honoring the contributions of African Americans to the field of opera.
• 1996, she was honored as an Outstanding African American Singer/Pioneer by Harvard University.
• 2000, her career as a pioneering African-American opera singer was profiled in Aida's Brothers and Sisters: Black Voices in Opera, a PBS documentary first broadcast in February of that year.
• 2006, Williams was also profiled in the 2006 PBS documentary The Mystery of Love.
• 2007, she was one of eight women honored by the Library of Virginia during Women's History Month as part of its Virginia Women in History project.
• On February 11, 2009, a Tribute to Camilla Williams program was held in New York, sponsored by the New York City Opera and the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture.
• On September 4, 2009, she was awarded the President's Medal for Excellence by Indiana University.
• In 2011 her autobiography, The Life of Camilla Williams, African American Classical Singer and Opera Diva, was published by the Edwin Mellen Press.