Jan. 23, 1955
Leontyne Price became the first Black American to sing opera on television, appearing in the title role of Puccini’s “Tosca.” It was the culmination of a childhood dream for the Laurel, Mississippi, native after going on a school trip at age 14 and hearing Marian Anderson sing.
“The minute she came on stage, I knew I wanted to walk like that, look like that, and if possible, sound something near that,” she said.
When she performed alongside a White tenor, many NBC affiliates in the South refused to air the broadcast. But 11 years later, her hometown and many other radio stations across the South carried her live performance in “Antony and Cleopatra.”
With her soaring soprano, she became the first woman to open the new Met at Lincoln Center in 1966. She has received the Presidential Medal of Freedom, Kennedy Center Honors and 19 Grammy Awards. In 2017, she was inducted into The Performing Arts Hall of Fame at Lincoln Center alongside the likes of Louis Armstrong, Plácido Domingo and Yo-Yo Ma. Her interview in the documentary, The Opera House, prompted The New York Times to rave, “Leontyne Price, Legendary Diva, Is a Movie Star at 90.”
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