Adele Addison facts for kids
Quick facts for kids Adele Addison |
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Adele Addison in 1955
(photographed by Carl Van Vechten) |
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| Background information | |
| Born | July 24, 1925 New York, New York, U.S. |
| Origin | Springfield, Massachusetts, U.S. |
| Genres | Opera |
| Occupation(s) | Singer Lyric soprano |
| Years active | 1948–1960s |
Adele Addison (born July 24, 1925) is an American singer known for her beautiful voice. She was a very important person in classical music during the 1950s and 1960s.
Adele Addison was a lyric soprano. This means she had a high, light, and flexible singing voice. While she sang in some opera shows, she mostly performed in recitals (solo shows) and concerts with orchestras. She sang many different types of music, from very old Baroque pieces to newer songs.
Today, many people remember her as the singing voice for the character Bess in the 1959 movie Porgy and Bess. Her voice was known for being smooth and clear, which made her perfect for Baroque music. You can hear her on many recordings, especially her Baroque performances. She often recorded with the New York Philharmonic orchestra, led by the famous conductor Leonard Bernstein.
Early Life and Education
Adele Addison was born in New York City on July 24, 1925. She is African-American. When she was a child, her family moved to Springfield, Massachusetts.
Adele started taking singing lessons seriously when she was a teenager. After high school, she won a scholarship. A scholarship is money given to a student to help them pay for their education. This scholarship allowed her to study at the Westminster Choir College in Princeton, New Jersey. She earned more scholarships to continue her studies at Princeton University. She also attended summer classes at the Berkshire Music Center, which is now called the Tanglewood Music Center. There, she learned from a teacher named Boris Goldovsky.
Career Highlights
Adele Addison gave her first professional solo performance in Boston in 1948. She was still a student at Princeton at the time. After she graduated, she moved to New York City to become a professional classical soprano.
In 1952, she had her first solo performance in New York City at Town Hall. The New York Times newspaper wrote that her performance was a "high point" of the recital season. After this, she kept studying voice at the Juilliard School and with other teachers.
In 1955, she made her debut at the New York City Opera. She played the role of Mimi in Puccini's opera La bohème. The New York Post newspaper praised her, saying she was a very "appealing" and "moving" performer. In the same year, a famous composer named Aaron Copland asked her to perform his new song, Dirge In Woods, for the very first time.
Even though she was offered many more opera roles, Adele Addison preferred to sing in recitals and concerts. She did perform in a few more operas, including the main role in Handel's Acis and Galatea and Liù in Puccini's Turandot.
In 1959, Adele Addison sang the role of Bess in the movie version of Gershwin's Porgy and Bess. She was chosen at the last minute because the original singer's voice didn't sound right when recorded. In an interview, she said she always loved singing different kinds of songs. She felt lucky that she didn't have to choose between opera and concert singing.
Adele Addison performed with many major orchestras. These included the Boston Symphony Orchestra and the Cleveland Orchestra. In 1961, she was chosen to be the soprano soloist for the first performance of Francis Poulenc's Gloria. This was with the Boston Symphony Orchestra.
She became a favorite singer of Leonard Bernstein, a very famous conductor. They worked together often and made many recordings. In 1961, Bernstein invited her to sing in the first performance of Lukas Foss' Time Cycle with the New York Philharmonic. She also sang under Bernstein for the opening of Lincoln Center's Philharmonica Hall.
Other important performances by Adele Addison include the first performance of Lester Trimble's Canterbury Tales. She also gave a special performance of Debussy's L'Enfant prodigue.
Towards the late 1960s, Adele Addison started performing less. She began to focus more on teaching. She taught voice at colleges for over 35 years. She taught at places like SUNY at Stony Brook and the Eastman School of Music. For many years, she was also a teacher and even the head of the Voice Department at the Manhattan School of Music. This school gave her an honorary doctorate degree in 2001. Many of her students, like Dawn Upshaw, became successful singers. Adele Addison said she tried to help her students understand their own talents. She wanted them to know how much they needed to learn to be a "singing musician."
Personal Life
In 1958, Adele Addison married Norman Berger. He was a scientist and professor at New York University. They were married for 47 years until Norman Berger passed away in 2005.
