Lecture @ Noon: Voice Teachers of the 20th Century in African American Communities

Zoom

The Vocal Teacher of Ten Thousand: Teaching and Learning Opera in Early-Twentieth-Century African American Communities 

This talk explores the work of African American teachers and students of opera in cities from Philadelphia to Chicago to New York. Through the work of dedicated teachers like Emma Azalia Hackley, who established Philadelphia's People's Chorus and was known as the "vocal teacher of ten thousand," and James A. Mundy, founder of Chicago's South Side School of Grand Opera, the art form became a meaningful way for talented singers to form new creative and social bonds. 

Dr. Lucy Caplan is an interdisciplinary scholar of music and culture in the United States. She is the author of a new book, Dreaming in Ensemble: How Black Artists Transformed American Opera, published by Harvard University Press. She is Assistant Professor of Music at Worcester Polytechnic Institute, where she teaches a wide range of classes on American music, African American music, and cultural history.