Bumbry enrolled at Boston University, later transferring to Northwestern University and finally moving to California to study with the legendary German soprano Lotte Lehmann at the Music Academy of the West.īumbry's operatic debut came in 1960, in no less a venue than the storied Paris Opera, where she sang the role of Amneris in Verdi's Aida. Later, after she appeared on Arthur Godfrey's Talent Scouts, offers from schools flooded in. But because the school was segregated, Bumbry was not allowed to take classes with white students, which Bumbry's mother declined. In 1954, the teenager won a radio talent competition and a scholarship to study at the St. "I studied piano from age 7 until I was 15 but I wanted to.seriously become a singer of classical music." At age 17, Bumbry sang for Anderson, who was impressed enough to recommended the young singer to her high-powered manager, Sol Hurok. "I knew I had to be a singer," Bumbry said. It was an event that changed her life, she told NPR in 1990. She suffered an ischemic stroke last year and never fully recovered.īumbry was part of a pioneering generation of Black women opera stars that included Leontyne Price, Shirley Verrett and Jessye Norman, all of whom followed the path blazed by Marian Anderson.Īs a child, Bumbry was taken by her mother to see Anderson perform in her hometown, St. Bumbry died May 7 in a Vienna hospital, according to her publicist.
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