Jessye Mae Norman (September 15, 1945 – September 30, 2019) was an American opera singer and recitalist. She performed dramatic soprano roles but also sang in other types of roles. She was known for her powerful presence on stages during operas, concerts, and recitals. She was associated with roles such as Beethoven's Leonore, Wagner's Sieglinde and Kundry, Berlioz's Cassandre and Didon, and Bartók's Judith. The New York Times music critic Edward Rothstein described her voice as a "grand mansion of sound" that "has enormous dimensions, reaching backward and upward. It opens onto unexpected vistas. It contains sunlit rooms, narrow passageways, cavernous halls."

Norman studied at Howard University, the Peabody Institute, and the University of Michigan. Her career began in Europe, where she won the ARD International Music Competition in Munich in 1968, which gave her a job at the Deutsche Oper Berlin. Her first operatic performance was as Elisabeth in Wagner's Tannhäuser, after which she performed the role of Aida in Verdi's opera at La Scala in Milan. She made her first operatic appearance in the U.S. in 1982 with the Opera Company of Philadelphia, where she played the role of Jocasta in Stravinsky's Oedipus rex and Dido in Purcell's Dido and Aeneas. She later performed leading roles with many companies, including the Metropolitan Opera, the Lyric Opera of Chicago, the Paris Opera, and the Royal Opera in London. She was internationally recognized and invited to sing at the second inauguration of Ronald Reagan and at Queen Elizabeth II's 60th birthday celebration in 1986. She also performed La Marseillaise to celebrate the 200th anniversary of the French Revolution on July 14, 1989. She sang at the 1996 Summer Olympics opening ceremony in Atlanta and for the second inauguration of Bill Clinton in 1997.

Norman performed and recorded recitals featuring music by Joseph Haydn, Franz Schubert, Johannes Brahms, Richard Strauss, Gustav Mahler, Ernest Chausson, and Francis Poulenc, among others. In 1984, she won the Grammy Award for Best Classical Vocal Solo, the first of five Grammy Awards she received during her career. She also received several honorary doctorates, the Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award, the National Medal of Arts, the Légion d'honneur, and was named a member of the British Royal Academy of Music. In 1990, UN secretary-general Javier Pérez de Cuéllar named her Honorary Ambassador to the United Nations.

Life and career

Norman was born in Augusta, Georgia, to Silas Norman, an insurance salesman, and Janie King-Norman, a schoolteacher. She was one of five children in a wealthy Black family of amateur musicians. Her mother and grandmother were both pianists, and her father sang in a local choir. Norman and her siblings all took piano lessons as children. She attended Charles T. Walker Elementary School. As a young child, she showed talent as a singer, performing gospel songs at Mount Calvary Baptist Church at the age of four. At church, she was greatly influenced by the singing of two women, Mrs. Golden and Sister Childs. At seven, she entered her first vocal competition and placed third because of a mistake in the second stanza of the hymn "God Will Take Care of You." Later, she said in interviews, "I guess He has taken care of me. That was my last memory slip in public."

When Norman was nine, she received a radio for her birthday and discovered opera through weekly broadcasts of the Metropolitan Opera, which she listened to every Saturday. She began listening to recordings of Marian Anderson and Leontyne Price, whom she credited as important influences in her career. Her first formal vocal coaching came from Rosa Harris Sanders Creque, her music teacher at A. R. Johnson Junior High School. She continued taking voice lessons privately with Ms. Sanders Creque while attending Lucy C. Laney Senior High School in Augusta.

Norman studied at the Interlochen Center for the Arts in Northern Michigan in the opera performance program. At 16, she entered the Marian Anderson Vocal Competition in Philadelphia. Though she did not win, she received a full scholarship to Howard University in Washington, D.C. While at Howard, she studied voice with Carolyn Grant and sang in the university chorus and as a soloist at the Lincoln Temple United Church of Christ.

In 1964, she became a member of Gamma Sigma Sigma, the Alpha Eta Chapter, and served as Chapter President. In 1965, she was one of 37 women to found the Delta Nu chapter of Sigma Alpha Iota music fraternity. In 1966, she won the National Society of Arts and Letters singing competition. After graduating in 1967 with a music degree, she began graduate studies at the Peabody Conservatory in Baltimore and later at the University of Michigan School of Music, Theatre & Dance, where she earned a master's degree in 1968. During this time, she studied voice with Elizabeth Mannion and Pierre Bernac.

After graduating, Norman moved to Europe, like many American musicians at the time, to build her career. In 1968, she won the ARD International Music Competition in Munich. The next year, she signed a three-year contract with the Deutsche Oper Berlin, where she first performed as Elisabeth in Wagner's Tannhäuser.

Norman performed as a guest with German and Italian opera companies, often playing noble characters convincingly. Her voice was both flexible and powerful, with a wide range from contralto to dramatic soprano. In 1970, she sang the title role in Handel's Deborah in Florence. In 1971, she performed Sélika in Meyerbeer's L'Africaine at the Maggio Musicale Fiorentino and Countess Almaviva in Mozart's Le nozze di Figaro alongside Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau at the Berlin Festival. She recorded this role with the BBC Orchestra conducted by Colin Davis. The recording was a finalist for the Montreux International Record Award and introduced her to audiences in Europe and the United States.

In 1972, Norman made her debut at La Scala, singing the title role in Verdi's Aida, and performed as Cassandra in Les Troyens by Berlioz at The Royal Opera in London. She returned to the United States in 1972 for her first well-known performance at the Hollywood Bowl, where she sang Aida in a concert version for the venue's 50th anniversary. This was followed by a concert at the Tanglewood Music Festival and a recital tour in the United States before returning to Europe. In 1973, she gave her first New York City recital as part of the "Great Performers" series at Lincoln Center.

In 1975, Norman moved to London and did not perform in staged operas for five years. She remained active internationally as a recitalist, performing works like Mendelssohn's Elijah and Franck's Les Béatitudes. She returned to North America in 1976 and 1977 for an extensive concert tour. Throughout the 1970s, she toured Europe, performing recitals of works by Schubert, Mahler, Wagner, Brahms, Satie, Messiaen, and several American composers, receiving praise from critics.

In October 1980, Norman returned to the operatic stage, singing the title role in Richard Strauss's Ariadne auf Naxos at the Hamburg State Opera. Her first U.S. operatic performance was in 1982 at the Opera Company of Philadelphia, where she played Jocasta in Stravinsky's Oedipus rex and Dido in Purcell's Dido and Aeneas. On July 18, she performed Didon in a concert version of Berlioz's Les Troyens conducted by Gennady Rozhdestvensky. The performance was broadcast on BBC Radio 3, and an audio recording exists.

Her stage debut at the Metropolitan Opera in New York City was on September 26, 1983, during the company's 100th-anniversary season. She sang Cassandre in Berlioz's Les Troyens with Plácido Domingo as Aeneas, Tatiana Troyanos as Didon, and James Levine conducting. The performance was broadcast as part of the Live from the Met series and is available on DVD and streaming. On October 12 and 17, she sang Didon with William Lewis and Gwynn Cornell. A review in The New York Times praised her portrayal of Didon as "regal and vulnerable." In later performances, she sang both Cassandre and Didon in the final show, earning a 15-minute standing ovation. The performance was broadcast on Metropolitan Opera Radio, and an audio recording is available.

Norman programmed recitals that included contemporary music. She commissioned the song cycle woman.life.song by composer Judith Weir, with texts by Toni Morrison, Maya Angelou, and Clarissa Pinkola Estés. The work premiered at Carnegie Hall. A review in The New York Times noted that she "carefully gauged her seemingly limitless resources to fit the changing textures of her material."

Awards and nominations

The Grammy Awards are given every year by the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences. Norman has won 4 awards from 15 nominations, as well as 1 lifetime achievement award.

• 1984: Commandeur de l'ordre des Arts et des Lettres (France)
• 1984: France's National Museum of Natural History named an orchid for her.
• 1987: Member of the Royal Academy of Music
• 1989: Légion d'honneur (France)
• 1989: Honorary Fellow Jesus College, Cambridge
• 1990: Named Honorary Ambassador to the United Nations by UN Secretary-General Javier Pérez de Cuéllar
• 1991: Norman's hometown, Augusta, Georgia, dedicated Riverwalk Augusta's amphitheater, named in her honor.
• 1995: Austrian Cross of Honour for Science and Art, 1st class
• 1996: Norman was a featured performer during the opening ceremonies of the 1996 Summer Olympics in Atlanta, Georgia.
• March 1997: Honored by New York's Associated Black Charities at the 11th Annual Black History Makers Awards Dinner for her contributions to the arts and to African-American culture
• 2000: Outstanding Alumnae by Howard University
• 2006: Edison Award (Oeuvreprijs)
• 2019: 8th Street in Augusta, Georgia, is renamed Jessye Norman Boulevard
• 2021: The Interstate 20 and Washington Road interchange in Augusta, Georgia, is renamed the Jessye Norman Memorial Interchange

Norman received honorary doctorates from more than 30 colleges, universities, and conservatories.

Repertoire

Norman performed the following roles in operas:

Norman also took part in important performances of oratorios and orchestral concerts, such as:

Additionally, Norman gave recital performances, which included: