Barbara Hendricks

Hendricks was born in Stephens, Arkansas to Malvin and Della Mae Hendricks. Her father was a preacher in the Colored Methodist Episcopal Church, and her mother was a teacher. As a result of her parents' professions, the Hendricks family moved around the Deep South, and Barbara grew up steeped in the black musical tradition. While living in Little Rock and attending Horace Mann High School, she sang in Art Porter Sr.'s choir and babysat his children, prompting her to explore Porter's jazz collection.{{cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1998/03/24/arts/arts-abroad-living-normally-for-opera-refugees-and-2-children.html|title=Arts Abroad; Living 'Normally,' for Opera, Refugees and 2 Children|last=Olson|first=Elizabeth|newspaper=The New York Times|issn=0362-4331|date=March 24, 1998}}{{Cite web |date=2022-07-04 |title=Soprano Hendricks is an Arkansas treasure {{!}} Arkansas Democrat Gazette |url=https://www.arkansasonline.com/news/2022/jul/04/soprano-hendricks-is-an-arkansas-treasure/ |access-date=2025-04-11 |website=www.arkansasonline.com |language=en}} She briefly attended Lane College before transferring to the University of Nebraska–Lincoln, graduating with a bachelor's degree in mathematics and chemistry at the age of 20.{{Cite web |title=Alumni Spotlight: Barbara Hendricks {{!}} College of Arts and Sciences {{!}} Nebraska |url=https://cas.unl.edu/news/alumni-spotlight-barbara-hendricks/ |access-date=2025-04-11 |website=cas.unl.edu}} During her time at Nebraska, she sung in the University Singers, and her chance participation in a vocal competition resulted in her attending the Aspen Music Festival and School, where she met mezzo-soprano Jennie Tourel.{{Cite web |title=Voice for Change: Barbara Hendricks' Lifelong Commitment to Music and Human Rights |url=https://www.ifc.org/en/podcasts/creative-development/2024/barbara-hendrick-s-lifelong-commitment-to-music-and-human-rights |access-date=2025-04-11 |website=IFC |language=English}} Tourel encouraged her to apply to the Juilliard School, and upon her acceptance, she studied with Tourel and participated in master classes led by soprano Maria Callas. She graduated with a bachelor's degree in music in 1973.

She has two children, Jennie and Sebastian, with her former husband, Swedish pianist and impresario Martin Engstroem.https://www.resmusica.com/2014/06/24/martin-tson-engstrom-the-verbier-festival-director-in-high-spirits/

File:Barbara Henricks (Flickr).jpg 2008]]

In 1974, Hendricks made her professional operatic debut in Europe at the Glyndebourne Festival and in America at the San Francisco Opera. During her career, she has appeared at major opera houses throughout the world, including the Opéra National de Paris, the Metropolitan Opera, the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, and La Scala. In 1998 she sang Liù in the historical performance of Turandot at the Forbidden City in Beijing. Hendricks has performed more than twenty roles, twelve of which she has recorded.

Hendricks has appeared on film as Mimì in La bohème,{{IMDb title|0094777|La bohème|(1988)}} and in 1995 she sang the role of Anne Truelove in the Swedish film Rucklarens väg, an adaptation of Stravinsky's opera The Rake's Progress.{{IMDb title|0178008|Rucklarens väg}} In 2007, she appeared in the film Disengagement by Amos Gitai and starring Juliette Binoche.{{IMDb title|0871512|Disengagement}} She also recorded Mahler's Das Lied von der Erde, which is the main theme for the film.

Hendricks also performs jazz music and made her jazz debut at the Montreux Jazz Festival in 1994. Since that time, she has performed at major jazz festivals around the world. Hendricks is also known for her love of chamber music and has organized a number of chamber music festivals.

In 2004, at the Théâtre du Châtelet in Paris, she created the role of Angel in the world premiere of Péter Eötvös's opera Angels in America, after the play by Tony Kushner.

In January 2006, she left EMI, and created the new label Arte Verum for which she records exclusively.

In 2018, Hendricks sang "La Marseillaise" with the Choir of the French Army at the interment ceremony of Simone Veil in the Panthéon.

File:José Van Dam, B.Hendrickx.jpg and Barbara Hendricks, Brussels 2006]]

Hendricks cites her upbringing in Jim Crow-Era Arkansas as an inspiration for her extensive activist and humanitarian work.

Hendricks was first appointed as a UNHCR Goodwill Ambassador in 1987, and has continued to serve up to the present, making her the longest-serving UN Goodwill Ambassador. She was named named Honorary Lifetime Goodwill Ambassador in 2002, and continues to be the only person who has received that title. In this capacity, she has traveled widely across Africa, Asia, and Europe, and performed at several Nansen Refugee Award ceremonies.{{Cite web |title=Barbara Hendricks |url=https://www.unhcr.org/us/prominent-supporters/barbara-hendricks |access-date=2025-04-11 |website=UNHCR US |language=en-us}}

In 1991 and 1993 Hendricks gave two concerts in the war-torn formerly Yugoslavian cities of Dubrovnik and Sarajevo. She performed in Sarajevo with the Sarajevo Opera Chorus and jazz musician Sinan Alimanović. In 1998 she founded the Barbara Hendricks Foundation for Peace and Reconciliation, which seeks to facilitate reconciliation where conflicts have already occurred.

Since 2000, Hendricks has been a member of the Council of the Foundation for the Refugee Education Trust (RET). The RET is dedicated to post-primary education of refugee youth all over the world.

In 2001 she performed at the Nobel Prize ceremony in Oslo at the invitation of Nobel Peace Prize Laureate Kofi Annan. In May 2002, she performed at the East Timor Independence Day Ceremony.

In 1986, Hendricks was made a Commandeur of the Ordre des Arts et des Lettres; in 1992 she was awarded the rank of Chevalier of the Légion d'honneur. In 2000, she was awarded the Prince of Asturias Award for the Arts. In 2001, Hendricks received the Lions Clubs International Award for the work of her foundation. In 2015, Hendricks received the honorary degree Doctor of Fine Arts from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln.

Notes

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Sources

• Adapted from the article [https://web.archive.org/web/20070930165548/http://www.wikinfo.org/wiki.phtml?title=Barbara_Hendricks Barbara Hendricks], from Wikinfo, licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License.

{{Commons category|Barbara Hendricks}}

• {{official website|http://www.barbarahendricks.com/home.htm}}
• [{{AllMusic|class=artist|id=barbara-hendricks-q29215|pure_url=yes}} AllMusic biography]
• [https://web.archive.org/web/20170418205424/http://www.jazzure.com/barbara.html Interview]
• {{IMDb name|0376706|Barbara Hendricks}}
• [https://studsterkel.wfmt.com/programs/barbara-hendricks-discusses-her-career-music-education-and-opera Interview with Studs Terkel, April 3, 1978]

{{Prince of Asturias Award for the Arts}}

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Category:1948 births

Category:Living people

Category:20th-century African-American women singers

Category:20th-century American women opera singers

Category:African-American women opera singers

Category:American operatic sopranos

Category:Swedish operatic sopranos

Category:American women jazz singers

Category:American jazz singers

Category:Swedish jazz singers

Category:Swedish women jazz singers

Category:Aspen Music Festival and School alumni

Category:People from Stephens, Arkansas

Category:University of Nebraska–Lincoln alumni

Category:United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees goodwill ambassadors

Category:Commandeurs of the Ordre des Arts et des Lettres

Category:Knights of the Legion of Honour

Category:Jazz musicians from Arkansas

Category:21st-century Swiss women opera singers

Category:21st-century American women