Leona Mitchell
Leona Mitchell (born October 13, 1949 in Enid, Oklahoma), is an African-American and Chickasaw operatic soprano and an Oklahoma Music Hall of Fame inductee.
Mitchell started singing at an early age in the choir of the Antioch Church of God in Christ in Enid, where her father, Reverend Dr. Hulon Mitchell was the minister along with her mother, Dr. Pearl Mitchell who was the pianist.
She received a BA in music from the Oklahoma City University, went on to graduate studies at the Juilliard School in New York, and received honorary doctorates from Oklahoma City University and the University of Oklahoma. In 1983 she was inducted in the Oklahoma Women's Hall of Fame.
Leona Mitchell currently lives in Houston, Texas with her husband/manager Elmer Bush and son Elmer Bush IV.
[edit] Singing career
In 1973, she debuted as Micaela in Bizet's 1875 opera Carmen with the San Francisco Opera, debuting on December 15, 1975 in the same role at the Metropolitan Opera. She received international attention[citation needed] as Bess in the first complete stereo recording of George Gershwin's Porgy and Bess with Lorin Maazel and the Cleveland Orchestra. She has contributed to several recordings, had television appearances, and served as honorary chair of Black Heritage Month of the Oklahoma legislature. In 1988 Leona Mitchell performed the role of Liù in Turandot at the Metropolitan Opera under the direction of James Levine to rave reviews.[citation needed]
Leona Mitchell is a Grammy Award Winning Soprano who sang for 18 seasons as a leading spinto Soprano at The Metropolitan Opera of New York. She has also sung for most of the world's greatest opera houses; Paris, Covent Garden, Vienna, Rome, Australia, Buenos Aires, San Francisco, Chicago, Caracalla, and The Orange Festival amongst others. She has also appeared with some major symphony orchestras including those in London, New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, Philadelphia, and many others.
Miss Mitchell has sung for four US Presidents: Gerald Ford, Jimmy Carter, Ronald Reagan and Bill Clinton. She has also sung for many dignitaries: Prince Charles, Princess Anne, Honorable Saundra Day O'Connor, and Bishop Tutu.
Mitchell has been awarded many honors in her home state of Oklahoma: The Oklahoma Hall of Fame, The Oklahoma Music Hall of Fame, The Women's Hall of Fame and The Jazz Hall of Fame. Her home town of Enid has a Leona Mitchell Boulevard in her honor, as well as the city's Leona Mitchell Southern Heights Heritage Center and Museum. Governor Brad Henry of Oklahoma made her Oklahoma's State Cultural Ambassador.
Miss Mitchell has appeared in a production with each one of the Three Tenors: Ernani with Luciano Pavarotti, Turandot with Plácido Domingo and Carmen with Jose Carreras. Each has been recorded on DVD.
Miss Mitchell has been a favorite of many television broadcasts: The Merv Griffin Show, Jerry Lewis Telethon, Good Morning America and CBS Nightwatch and was heard and seen on many PBS "Live from Lincoln Center" broadcasts plus the "Live from the Met" series.
[edit] Sources
- Leona Mitchell Southern Heights Indian Museum website home page; information retrieved 20 September 2011.
- Pittman, Kitty, "Mitchell, Leona Pearl", Encyclopedia of Oklahoma History & Culture, Oklahoma Historical Society.
- Shepherd, Kenneth R., Contemporary Black Biography: Leona Mitchell. The Gale Group, 2006.
