Denyce Graves

Graves was born on March 7, 1964, in Washington, D.C., to Charles Graves and Dorothy (Middleton) Graves-Kenner. She is the middle of three children and was raised by her mother on Galveston Street, S.W., in the Bellevue section of Washington.{{cite news|title=Denyce Graves, From the Choir to Carmen |newspaper=The New York Times|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1995/10/14/arts/denyce-graves-from-the-choir-to-carmen.html|date=October 14, 1995|access-date=October 9, 2009|first=Anthony|last=Tommasini|author-link=Anthony Tommasini}} She graduated from the Duke Ellington School of the Arts in 1981. Graves studied voice at the Oberlin Conservatory of Music and the New England Conservatory with Helen Hodam.[http://www.answers.com/topic/denyce-graves Denyce Graves.] Answers.com She worked at the Wolf Trap Opera Company, which provides further training and experience for young singers who are between their academic training and full-time professional careers. Soon after, she was invited by David Gockley to participate in the Houston Opera Studio, from 1988 to 1990, where she studied with Elena Nikolaidi.

File:Denyce.jpg]]

She made her debut at the Metropolitan Opera in 1995 and has appeared at many opera houses. Though her repertoire is extensive, her signature parts are the title roles in Carmen and Samson et Dalila. Graves also made many appearances on the children's television series, Between the Lions, where she used her talents to teach children sounds of words.{{Cite web|url=http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0242192/fullcredits|title=Between the Lions (TV Series 1999– ) - IMDb|via=www.imdb.com}} On January 20, 2005, she sang the patriotic song "American Anthem" during the 55th Presidential Inauguration, between the swearing-in ceremonies of Vice President Dick Cheney and President George W. Bush for their second terms in office.{{cite news|title=Bush Pledges to Spread Freedom|newspaper=The Washington Post|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/wp-dyn/A23519-2005Jan20?language=printer|archive-url=https://archive.today/20120915102448/http://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/wp-dyn/A23519-2005Jan20?language=printer|url-status=dead|archive-date=September 15, 2012|date=January 21, 2005|access-date=October 9, 2009|first1=Peter|last1=Baker|first2=Michael A.|last2=Fletcher|page=A1}}

Graves sang "America the Beautiful" and "The Lord's Prayer" at the Washington National Cathedral during a memorial service for the victims of 9/11 on September 14, 2001, attended by President Bush, members of Congress, other politicians and representatives of foreign governments.{{cite news |title=Third Wedding's a Charm for Denyce Graves|newspaper=The Washington Post|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/09/13/AR2009091302877_pf.html|date=September 14, 2009|access-date=October 9, 2009|first=Ellen|last=McCarthy}}

In 2003, Graves performed in front of a live audience at the Mann Center for the Performing Arts in Philadelphia for a television special, Denyce Graves: Breaking the Rules. In 2005, she hosted the radio show Voce di Donna (Voice of a Lady) on Vox!, the vocal classical music channel of XM Satellite Radio, on which she interviewed various opera singers. Graves often was heard on The Tony Kornheiser Show radio program with her rendition of the "Mailbag Theme".

In 2005, she sang the lead role in the world premiere of Margaret Garner, an opera by Richard Danielpour and Toni Morrison.[https://www.freep.com/story/news/local/michigan/detroit/2019/08/06/toni-morrison-first-opera-world-premiere-detroit/1931762001/ Toni Morrison's first opera made its debut in Detroit], Detroit free Press, Mark Stryker, August 6, 2019

File:Denyce Graves.jpg

In May 2010, Graves performed a concert with tenor Lawrence Brownlee in the United States Supreme Court Building for the Supreme Court justices.{{cite news|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/05/16/AR2010051602290_pf.html|title=Opera-loving justices bring the music to the high court|first=Robert|last=Barnes|newspaper=The Washington Post|date=May 17, 2010}}

On June 15, 2013, Graves sang in the world premiere of Terence Blanchard's and Michael Cristofer's boxing opera, Champion with the Opera Theatre of Saint Louis.

In 2014, a recording of We Shall Overcome arranged by composer Nolan Williams, Jr. and featuring Graves was among several works of art, including the poem A Brave and Startling Truth by Maya Angelou, sent to space on the first test flight of the spacecraft Orion.{{cite web|last=Siceloff|first=Steven|title=Orion Flight Test to Carry Mementos and Inspirational Items|url=https://www.nasa.gov/content/orion-flight-test-to-carry-mementos-and-inspirational-items|website=NASA|archive-date=19 October 2021|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211019171726/https://www.nasa.gov/content/orion-flight-test-to-carry-mementos-and-inspirational-items/|date=7 August 2017|orig-date=Originally published 25 November 2014}}

File:Pelosi clinton graves ferraro.jpg in 2003, with Senator Hillary Clinton, House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, and former vice presidential candidate Geraldine Ferraro.]]

On September 25, 2020, Graves sang at the US Capitol as her friend Ruth Bader Ginsburg's casket was lying in state. Ginsburg was a devoted fan of opera.

On November 22, 2022, she sang the role of Sally in the stage premiere of Kevin Puts's opera The Hours at the Metropolitan Opera.Zachary Woolfe (23 November 2022), [https://www.nytimes.com/2022/11/23/arts/music/the-hours-opera-review.html "Review: In The Hours, Prima Donnas and Emotions Soar"], The New York Times. The performance of December 10 was video-cast as part of the Metropolitan Opera Live in HD series.[https://www.metopera.org/globalassets/season/2022-23/hours-the/programs/121022-the-hours.pdf Met program for the performance of The Hours on December 10, 2022]. Retrieved December 15, 2022.

In 2017, Graves was honored by The Washington Performing Arts with the Ambassador of the Arts Award.{{cite web|title= Denyce Graves Honored as Ambassador of Arts |website= www.washingtoninformer.com |date= 25 January 2017 |publisher=The Washington Informer|url= https://www.washingtoninformer.com/denyce-graves-honored-as-ambassador-of-arts/}}

In 2019, Graves received the Golden Plate Award of the American Academy of Achievement presented by Awards Council member Dr. Ben Carson.{{cite web|title= Golden Plate Awardees of the American Academy of Achievement |website=www.achievement.org|publisher=American Academy of Achievement|url= https://achievement.org/our-history/golden-plate-awards/}}

{{reflist}}

• {{C-SPAN|41904}}
• {{official|http://www.denycegraves.com}} ([https://web.archive.org/web/2021*/http://www.denycegraves.com/ archived])
• {{AllMusic|class=artist|id=denyce-graves-q26838|label=Biography|first=Andrew|last=Lindemann Malone|access-date=8 December 2016}}
• {{IMDb name|0336266|Denyce Graves}}
• [http://www.bruceduffie.com/graves.html Interview with Denyce Graves], August 7, 1997

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Category:1964 births

Category:20th-century African-American women singers

Category:20th-century American women singers

Category:20th-century American singers

Category:21st-century African-American women singers

Category:21st-century American women singers

Category:American operatic mezzo-sopranos

Category:Living people

Category:New England Conservatory alumni

Category:Oberlin Conservatory of Music alumni

Category:Musicians from Bethesda, Maryland

Category:Singers from Maryland

Category:Singers from Washington, D.C.

Category:Classical musicians from Washington, D.C.

Category:American voice teachers

Category:American women music educators

Category:People from Bellevue (Washington, D.C.)

Category:African-American women opera singers