Cynthia Haymon facts for kids
Cynthia Haymon-Coleman was born on September 6, 1958, in Jacksonville, Florida. She is a famous American singer, known as a soprano. This means she has a beautiful, high singing voice. She makes singing sound easy! Besides performing, she also teaches others how to sing.
Cynthia studied music at Northwestern University, where she earned a special degree in vocal performance. After many years, she retired from teaching at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign in 2016. Today, she continues to teach singing privately from her studio in Champaign, Illinois.
Her Amazing Performances
Cynthia Haymon-Coleman has played many important characters in operas. Operas are like plays where all the words are sung. Some of her most famous roles include:
- Bess in Porgy and Bess
- Liù in Turandot
- Mimì in La bohème
- Poppea in L'incoronazione di Poppea
- Micaela in Carmen
- Pamina in The Magic Flute
- Lauretta in Gianni Schicchi
- Susanna in The Marriage of Figaro
She also performed a brand-new song for the very first time! This was "Seven for Luck" by the famous composer John Williams. She sang it with the Boston Symphony Orchestra. The song used words written by the poet Rita Dove.
Awards and Recognition
Cynthia Haymon-Coleman was nominated for a Grammy Award. This is a very important award for music! She received the nomination for her role as Bess in the opera Porgy and Bess.
She sang Bess in a special performance at the Glyndebourne Festival Opera in 1986. Later, an album was made from this performance in 1989. She also appeared as Bess in a television show in 1993.
Videos of Her Work
You can see Cynthia Haymon-Coleman perform in this video:
- Glyndebourne Festival Opera: a Gala Evening (1992), available on Arthaus Musik DVD, 100-432, released in 2004.
