Anne Brown
Anne Wiggins Brown ( born August 9, 1912 in Baltimore, Maryland, † 13 March, 2009 Oslo, Norway) was an American soprano.
Life
The African-American Brown, which was dismissed by the Catholic school of their hometown as colored and also learned at the Peabody School of Music racial discrimination, attended Morgan State College in Baltimore and the Teachers' College, Columbia University and eventually became vocal student of Lucia Dunham at the Juilliard School of Music. She was the first black American who received the prestigious Margaret McGill scholarship from the school.
During her studies she applied to George Gershwin to play a role in his opera Porgy ( the final title Porgy and Bess was only in the course of their collaboration ), who decided to occupy the role of Bess with her. In the premiere on Alvin Theatre in New York, she performed, among others, Todd Duncan ( Porgy ), Edward Matthews (Jake ), Abbie Mitchell ( Clara), John Bubbles ( Sportin ' Life) and Ruby Elzy ( Serena ).
After Brown received roles in DuBose Heyward Broadway operettas Mamba 's Daughters and La Belle Hélène. In 1941 she sang the soprano part in Beethoven's Ninth Symphony with the NBC Symphony Orchestra under Leopold Stokowski. In the following years she toured the USA, where they recited songs by Brahms and Schubert and Spirituals of Harry Burleigh.
1946 Brown joined with Todd Duncan in the performance of Porgy and Bess at the Royal Opera in Copenhagen. They toured Europe, performed with the London Philharmonic Orchestra, and eventually settled in Norway, where she married the ski jumpers and author Leif Thor Schjelderup 1948.
From Norway, they toured through Europe, Asia and Latin America. In 1950, she appeared in the operas The Medium and The Telephone by Gian Carlo Menotti in Norway. For the lead role in The Consul, she received the Music Critics' Prize.
A progressive asthma forced her to give up her career as an active singer, and she began in 1953 as a vocal teacher and opera producer to work. In 1967 under her leadership, a Norwegian production of Porgy and Bess. In 1979 her autobiography under the title Sang Fra Frossen sizes.
For the performance of Porgy and Bess at the Metropolitan Opera to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the first performance in 1985 Brown returned for the first time back in the United States. In 1998 she took part in the celebrations of the 100th anniversary of Gershwin at the Library of Congress; In the same year she received the George Peabody Medal for Outstanding Contributions to Music in America of the Peabody Institute. 2004 turned Nicole Franklin about her documentary Gershwin, Norway, & The Artists' Libido: A dialogue with Anne Brown.