Caterina Jarboro

Caterina Jarboro

Caterina Jarboro (circa 1898 – August 13, 1986) was an African-American opera singer. She was the first black opera singer ever to sing on an opera stage in America, twenty-two years before Marian Anderson's début at the Metropolitan Opera.

Biography

Jarboro was born around 1898 in Wilmington, North Carolina.[1] Her father was African-American and mother was Native-American. Her siblings were Joseph Jarboro of Philadelphia, and Anna Gayle of Palmetto, Florida.[2]

Jarboro studied in North Carolina and then in New York. She sang in the theater musical Shuffle Along and in James P. Johnson's Running Wild. In 1930 she debuted in opera with Verdi's Aida at the Puccini Theatre in Milan, Italy.

In 1933, twenty-two years before Marian Anderson's début at the Metropolitan Opera, impresario Alfredo Salmaggi hired Jarboro to sing with his opera company at the New York Hippodrome. She was presented in the role of Seleka in Meyerbeer's L'Africaine. She was the first black opera singer ever to sing on an opera stage in America. This milestone earned Salmaggi special recognition from First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt. Many other opera appearances throughout Europe followed.

She returned to the United States in 1941. Among her performances were a recitals at the Town Hall in 1942 and Carnegie Hall in 1944. She retired from opera in 1955.[2]

Jarboro died in August 13, 1986 in Manhattan.[2]

References

  1. ↑ Her obituary says she was 90 years old. The Social Security Death Index has her birthday as July 24, 1908 which would make her 78 years old at death. The Biography & Genealogy Master Index has her birth year as 1898, 1903 and 1908 in three different entries. Her age on a ship manifest for October 11, 1939 yields a birth year of 1898.
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 "Caterina Jarboro". New York Times. August 16, 1986. Retrieved 2015-03-06. Caterina Jarboro, a soprano who made her United States debut in Verdi's Aida in 1933, a black woman taking the lead role in an all-white company, died Wednesday at her home in Manhattan after a brief illness. She was 90 years old.

Further reading

Eileen Southern, The Music of Black Americans: A History. W. W. Norton & Company; 3rd edition. ISBN 0-393-97141-4