Leontyne Price

African American Soprano. Won a scholarship to Juilliard in 1949. In 1952 Ms. Price was chosen by Virgil Thomson for a Broadway revival of his Four Saints in Three Acts, and then starred as Bess in Gershwin's Porgy and Bess on a world tour. A concert career including first performances of works by Barber and Sauguet was interrupted by a television performance of Tosca. This success along with other operatic appearances set the course of her career. She achieved fame as one of the world's foremost sopranos, mainly through her roles in Verdi's operas. Her voice is a true lirico-spinto, a voice that can sound powerful and incisive at dramatic climaxes. A subtle interpreter of many of the great women's operatic roles.