Born 1910, Norfolk, VA
Died 1996, West Chester, PA
For the first half of the 20th century, African-American singers were not engaged for performances on operatic stages throughout the country. Many turned to the concert platform instead for artistic expression.
Such a singer was Dorothy Maynor, who debuted at New York’s Town Hall in 1939. She toured the U.S., Europe, and Latin America as a concert singer and performed on radio as well. Career highlights included singing at President Truman’s Inaugural Gala (1949) and President Eisenhower’s Inauguration (1953). She founded the Harlem School of the Arts in 1964, where she was Director until her retirement in 1979. In 1975 she became the first African-American on the Board of Directors of The Metropolitan Opera.
Maynor’s lyric soprano had a beautiful silvery timbre, an excellent top and pianissimi, and a rapid vibrato that would not be to everyone’s taste. Her recording of “Depuis le jour” from Charpentier’s Louise is something of a cult classic and displays her vocal strengths quite well.
Richard Strauss’s song “Zueignung” (“Devotion”) was one of the items on a 1942 “Command Performance” program recorded for U.S. servicemen overseas. Leopold Stokowski conducted the NBC Symphony Orchestra.