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Lawrence Winters

Singer details:

Voice: Bass-baritone
Nationality: American
Year of Birth: 1915
Year of Death: 1965

About Lawrence Winters:

Lawrence Winters (né Lawrence Lafayette Whisonant; 15 November 1915 King's Creek, South Carolina – 24 September 1965 Hamburg, Germany), bass-baritone, was an African-American opera singer who had an active international career from the mid-1940s through the mid-1960s. He was part of the first generation of black opera singers to achieve wide success and is viewed as part of an instrumental group of performers who helped break down the barriers of racial prejudice in the opera world. He began his opera career at the New York City Opera in 1946 during a time when the NYCO was one of the few American opera companies hiring black artists. He sang a varied repertoire there through 1955, after which his career was largely based in Europe until his death at the age of fifty.

Winters began to study singing privately in Salisbury, North Carolina, before entering Howard University in 1941, where he studied singing with Todd Duncan. After graduating from Howard in 1944 with a bachelor's degree in Music, he joined the Eva Jessye Choir. Shortly thereafter he sang the lead role in a concert production of Clarence Cameron White's Ouranga. Following this he became musical director in the Special Services Division at Fort Huachuca as a member of the U.S. Armed Forces.

After the end of World War II, Winters moved to New York City in 1946 where he was almost immediately engaged for the Broadway musical revue Call Me Mister, portraying a variety of smaller roles. His official recital debut followed in 1947 at Town Hall in New York. Then, in 1948, he debuted as an opera singer in the New York City Opera (NYCO) in Verdi's Aida as Amonasro. He portrayed several more roles with the NYCO over the next seven years, including Dessalines in William Grant Still's Troubled Island (1949), the four villains in Jacques Offenbach's The Tales of Hoffmann (1949), Escamillo in Georges Bizet's Carmen (1949), Tchelio in Sergei Prokofiev's The Love for Three Oranges (1950), Tonio in Ruggero Leoncavallo's Pagliacci (1950), Timur in Giacomo Puccini's Turandot (1950), Alfio in Cavalleria rusticana (1950), The Messenger in the world premiere of David Tamkin's The Dybbuk (1951), the title role in Giuseppe Verdi's Rigoletto (1951), King Balthazar in Gian Carlo Menotti's Amahl and the Night Visitors (1952), Colline in Puccini's La bohème (1952), the title role in Béla Bartók's Bluebeard's Castle (1953), Count Almaviva in Mozart's The Marriage of Figaro (1954), Joe in Show Boat (1954), Germont in Verdi's La Traviata (1955), and Diomede in the New York premiere of William Walton's Troilus and Cressida (1955) among others.

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Popular videos featuring Lawrence Winters:

More Arias, Duets and Ensembles performed by Lawrence Winters

9 Results
Page 1 of 1
Nr.Title scenePopularityOperaComposerActTypeVoicesLang.Roles
1Bess you is my woman now Popularity:

Opera: Porgy and BessComposer: GershwinAct: 2

Type: duetVoice: B-Br SLanguage: English

Roles: Porgy/Bess
2Dio di Giuda! Popularity:

Opera: NabuccoComposer: VerdiAct: 4.02

Type: ariaVoice: baritoneLanguage: Italian

Roles: Nabucco
3It ain't necessarily so Popularity:

Opera: Porgy and BessComposer: GershwinAct: 2

Type: ariaVoice: tenorLanguage: English

Roles: Sporting Life
4Vieni o Levita Popularity:

Opera: NabuccoComposer: VerdiAct: 2.04-1

Type: ariaVoice: bassLanguage: Italian

Roles: Zaccaria
5A woman is a sometime thing Popularity:

Opera: Porgy and BessComposer: GershwinAct: 1

Type: ariaVoice: baritoneLanguage: English

Roles: Jake
6Chi mi toglie il regio scettro Popularity:

Opera: NabuccoComposer: VerdiAct: 2.09

Type: ariaVoice: baritoneLanguage: Italian

Roles: Nabucco
7A red headed woman Popularity:

Opera: Porgy and BessComposer: GershwinAct: 2.04

Type: ariaVoice: baritoneLanguage: English

Roles: Crown
8Tu sul labbro dei veggenti Popularity:

Opera: NabuccoComposer: VerdiAct: 2.04-2

Type: ariaVoice: bassLanguage: Italian

Roles: Zaccaria
9Bess oh where is my Bess? Popularity:

Opera: Porgy and BessComposer: GershwinAct: 3

Type: ariaVoice: bass-baritoneLanguage: English

Roles: Porgy
9 Results
Page 1 of 1