Grace Bumbry

A trailblazer in the operatic world, mezzo-soprano Grace Bumbry was the first singer of color to appear at the Bayreuth Festival and was the first African American opera singer to perform in the White House. Inspired as a child by attending Marian Anderson concerts, Bumbry would continue the legacy of that famed singer. Bumbry was born in St. Louis, Missouri on January 4, 1937. As a youth, she sang in church choirs. In 1955, she entered Northwestern University, where she studied voice with the great Lotte Lehman, and transferred with her to the Music Academy of the West in Sa...