Volume 12 , Issue 21

Oklahoma Opera Singers

Oklahoma Historical Society, Oklahoma History & Culture states the following about this African-American opera singer from Enid, Oklahoma, "Opera singer Leona Mitchell was born October 13, 1949, in Enid, Oklahoma, to Rev. Hulon and Pearl Olive Leatherman Mitchell. Tenth of fifteen children, Leona Mitchell began her musical journey by singing in her father's church choir. She received a scholarship from Oklahoma City University, where in 1971 she obtained a bachelor's degree in music. Her alma mater later conferred upon her an honorary doctorate in music." Leona debuted with the San Francisco Spring Opera Theater in 1972 and received an Opera America Grant.

Mitchell, African-American Opera Singer, received numerous awards including induction in the Oklahoma Music Hall of Fame in 2001. She received an Outstanding Oklahoman citation in 1975 and was named "Ambassadress of Enid" that same year. She was also honored by a joint session of the Oklahoma Legislature in 1985. She has performed for two presidents and at the inauguration of Charles Bradford Henry as governor of Oklahoma in 2003. She married Elmer Bush III and had one son, Elmer Bush IV. At the end of the twentieth century she resided in Houston, Texas. You can connect with leona Mitchell through her Facebook. Another internationally acclaimed mezzo soprano Native American opera singer is Barbara McAlister was born Muskogee, Oklahoma in 1941. McAlister is an enrolled member of the Cherokee Nation, a descendant of Old Tassel, and half German through her Mother. She aspired to be a country-western singer in her youth, but learned to love opera from her parents.

For McAlister's dedication to promoting the Cherokee language, she was awarded the Cherokee Medal of Honor from the Cherokee Honor Society. McAlister won the Loren Zachary Competition in Los Angeles, California, which launched her career. She has since performed in the opera houses of Passau, Koblenz, Bremerhaven, and most notably Flensburg, where she was engaged for a decade. She has given solo performances at Carnegie Hall, Alice Tully Hall, and the Weil Recital Hall, and has performed with companies throughout Europe and the United States.

Tessie Mobley (1906-1990) Opera Singer, Lushanya, attended school in Ardmore, Oklahoma and lived on the family farm where she learned to break horses, shoot a rifle and, in contrast, studied piano from age six. She attended several universities in the United States and studied opera from 1931 to 1934 at the Staatliche Akademische Hochscule fur Musik in Berlin, Germany.

Lushanya was sometimes called "Songbird of the Chickasaws." Lushanya began her career with a solo performance in the Hollywood Bowl for the 1929 Indian Ceremonials. From there, she went on to become a famed and beloved performer across Europe and the United States. She was the subject of several portrait artists, and her likeness hangs in prominent museums today.

Lushanya was inducted into the Oklahoma Hall of Fame in 1964 and passed away in her Fort Worth, Texas home.   |  View or Add Comments (0 Comments)   |   Receive updates ( subscribers)  |   Unsubscribe

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