Jessye Norman

In the past couple weeks I have been writing many of my blogs about various performers and artists that have been or are associated with the University of Michigan. Today I will continue this trend as I introduce you all to the fabulous Jessye Norman.

Jessye Norman was the first opera singer I had ever heard live. It was the beginning of my freshmen year and she gave some special Gershwin concert at Hill Auditorium. I remember being in awe of how smooth and rich her voice was. Here we were in Hill Auditorium – which is a HUGE space – and every inch of the hall was filled with her sound, a sound that was never forced or pushed but poured out of her with such ease. After googling her name following the concert, I was not surprised to discover that not only has she received numerous honorary doctorates, but has been honored with the National Medal of Arts and the Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award.

Jessye Norman graduated from the University of Michigan in 1968 after studying with Elizabeth Mannion for her Master’s degree in Vocal Performance. Following her graduation Norman moved to Europe to establish herself where she landed a three-year contract with the Deutsche Opera Berlin via the ARD International Music Competition in Munich. During this three year contract, Norman spent quite a bit of time behind the Iron Curtain in East Berlin. With her American passport it was easy to go through Checkpoint Charlie and here she was captivated by how much the arts and music met to the people behind the Iron Curtain. “They would arrive hours before the performances were to begin just to stand in line, knowing that they had tickets already, just to know that they were anticipating the music as much as the people who were going to present the music. Even though they lived under the oppressive regimes, that their spirits were not squelched — that they lived anyway, that they allowed their spirits to be free in any case. And that made a great impression and still makes a great impression on me”.

Four short years after graduating from the University of Michigan and moving to Europe, Jessye Norman made her debut at La Scala as well as the Royal Opera at Covent Garden performing the title role in Verdi’s Aida and Cassandra in Berlioz’s Les Troyens respectively. Jessye Norman spent much of her time performing in concerts and recitals primarily focusing on the European markets, only expanding to North America once she was an established artist in Europe. According to Encyclopedia Britannica “By the mid-1980s she was one of the most popular and highly regarded dramatic soprano singers in the world” during which she made her Metropolitan Opera debut in 1983 for their 100th anniversary season, singing at the inauguration of Ronald Reagan and Queen Elizabeth II’s 60th birthday celebration.

Now, as Jessye Norman is later in her career, she continues to perform although she has transitioned to performing numerous roles from the mezzo-soprano repertoire. Additionally she has partnered with the Rachel Longstreet Foundation to open the Jessye Norman School of the Arts, a tuition-free after-school program for economically disadvantage youth in her hometown of Augusta, Georgia. In her personal time she avoids listening to opera, instead focusing her attention on hip-hop, and never on an iPod as “there isn’t enough bandwidth on an iPod to give you the full scope of a trained voice or a beautiful violin… you’re not going to hear the timpani in the background or the wonderful soft entrance of the clarinet in the second movement, and all of these things that make this really great music, that is hundreds of years old, and we cannot stop listening and playing because it is so wonderful”.

As for the changes in her voice over the years and the changes in herself, Norman wisely says “I find that to be wonderful, that we can accept the passing of the years as being a positive thing. Life and living can be a marvelous thing if we simply, as it were, embrace the passing of time with love instead of shunning it and pretend that it isn’t happening”.