Carol Brice (Contralto)

Born: April 16, 1918 - Sedalia, Noth Carolina, USA
Died: February 15, 1985 - Norman, Oklahoma, USA

The black American contralto, Carol Brice (Lovette Hawkins), received training at Palmer Memorial Institute in Sedalia, at Talageda College in Alabama (Bachelor of Music, 1939), and from Francis Rogers at the Juilliard School of Music in New York (1939-1943).

Carol Brice first attracted attention when she sang in The Hot Mikado at the New York World’s Fair in 1939. She was also chosen to sing at a concert for President Roosevelt’s 3^rd inauguration in 1941 and was the first black American to win the Naumburg Award (1943). Among her many stage roles were Addie in Regina, Maude in Finian’s Rainbow, Maria in Porgy and Bess, Queenie in Showboat and Harriet Tubman in Gentlemen, be seated. She was a member of the Vienna Volksoper from 1967 to 1971.

Carol Brice taught at the University of Oklahoma from 1974. With her husband, the baritone Thomas Carey, she founded the Cimarron Circuit Opera Company.

Source: Baker’s Biographical Dictionary of 20^th Century Classical Musicians (1997)
Contributed by Aryeh Oron (December 2001)

Recordings of Bach Cantatas & Other Vocal Works

Conductor

As

Works

Daniel Saidenberg

Alto

Arias from BWV 232, BWV 243

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