Charity Sunshine Tillemann Dick is an American-born soprano. She has performed across the United States, Europe, and Asia. Some venues include The Kennedy Center in Washington, DC; Severance Hall in Cleveland, Ohio; Il Giardino Di Boboli in Florence, Italy; The National Symphony Hall in Budapest, Hungary; The Tel Aviv Opera House in Israel; and the American Embassy in Beijing, China.
Charity has collaborated shared the stage with Bruno Rigacci, Joella Jones, Marvin Hamlisch, Bono, Zoltán Kocsis, Joan Dornemann, Eva Marton, and former Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice.[1][2] Some of her operatic roles include Titania in A Mid Summer's Night Dream, Gilda in Rigoletto, Violetta in La Traviata, and Ophelia in Ophelia Forever. Charity has also performed for numerous presidents, prime ministers, members of Congress, and world dignitaries.[3] Her performances have been broadcast around the world on the BBC, IRA, Bartok Radio, MTV, PBS and NPR.
After receiving a diagnosis of idiopathic Pulmonary Hypertension in 2004, Charity served as the national spokesperson for the Pulmonary Hypertension Association. In December 2005, her testimony about Pulmonary Hypertension for the Committee on Energy and Commerce was entered into the permanent record [4].
In September 2009, Charity received a double lung transplant at the Cleveland Clinic. Just eight months later, she performed before the doctors, nurses, and support staff at the Clinic.[5][6][7][8] Charity was also the opening speaker at TEDMED 2010 in San Diego, CA.[9][10][11]
Charity was a Fulbright Fellow, Spelman Villa Fellow and member of USA Today's All Academic Team. She received a bachelor's degree with high honors from Regis University and studied music at the Peabody Conservatory at Johns Hopkins University and the Liszt Academy of Music in Budapest.
Charity was born in Denver, CO. She is the fifth of eleven children.[12] Charity is also the granddaughter of the late Congressman Tom Lantos from her maternal line, and also the granddaughter of Nancy Dick - Colorado's first female Lieutenant Governor - from her paternal line. In April 2008, Charity's father, Timber Dick, a successful inventor and businessman from Denver, died from injuries received in car accident.[13]