Carol Brice (1918-1985)
Hazel Singer tells us of the career of Carol Brice (1918-1985), who is profiled at BlackPast.org:
Contralto singer Carol Brice was born in Sedalia, North Carolina on
April 16, 1918 into a musical family. Eventually she became one of the
first African American classical singers with an extensive recording
repertoire. Brice trained at Palmer Memorial Institute in Sedalia and
then enrolled in Talladega College in Alabama, where she received her
Bachelor of Music degree in 1939. She later attended Julliard School of
Music between 1939 and 1943 where she trained with Francis Rogers. In
1943 Brice became the first African American musician to win the
prestigious Walter W. Naumburg Foundation Award.
Carol Brice first attracted public acclaim at the New York World’s Fair
in 1939 when she performed in the opera, “The Hot Mikado.” Her next
major public performance came in 1941, when she sang at a Washington
concert honoring the third inauguration of President Franklin Delano
Roosevelt. Her brother, the pianist Jonathan Brice, was frequently her
accompanist at concerts and competitions.
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