Leontyne Price: Queen of the Met
Presented by Osher Lifelong Learning Institute (OLLI)
Four sessions: January 15-February 5, 12-1:20 pm
Sarasota Art Museum, Ringling College Museum Campus, 1001 S. Tamiami Trail, Sarasota, FL 34236
$70 (plus $25 OLLI membership) | 941-309-5111 • olliringlingcollege.org
When Leontyne Price opened the “new” Metropolitan Opera House in 1966, her status as America's reigning soprano and resident Met diva was confirmed. From her sensational Met debut in 1961 to her farewell in 1985, Price’s voice remained luxuriantly beautiful and fresh. The Laurel, M.S. native was also a standard bearer and role model for Black opera singers then just breaking down the barriers Black artists still faced in 1950s America. At the Met, she built upon Marian Anderson’s historic color barrier-breaking debut in 1955, opening its doors to a host of other supremely talented Black artists. We’ll discuss her rise to recognition in America and Europe, her illustrious Met career, and explore her legacy of recordings from opera to pop.