George Shirley, Louise Toppin, piano When I was about 8 years of age, the celebrated African American concert tenor Roland Hayes appeared in recital at ’s Ebenezer AME Church where my parents and I held membership. I had begun singing for church functions with my parents in Indianapolis, Indiana when I was 4 years old, and we had continued this practice after moving to Detroit in the early 1940s. My parents, hoping that I would follow in Hayes’s footsteps, made sure that I was introduced to the legendary tenor at the end of his recital.

That was the first of three memorable face-to-face meetings I would be privileged to enjoy with Mr. Hayes; the second followed his final recital in 1962 on the occasion of his 75th birthday, and the third took place at his lovely home in Brookline, Massachusetts in 1974, three years before his decease.

On one of my early spring tours to with the Metropolitan , I sang the role of Rodolfo in Puccini’s La Bohème. During the First Act intermission I answered a knock at my dressing room door and discovered an usher waiting to give me the business card of a member of the audience. On one side of the card was written “Bravo!” On the opposite side, “Roland Hayes.” I could only offer a prayer of gratitude that my high C at the end of “Che gelida manina” had exited my mouth in acceptable form!

In 1974, Robert Sherman, Program Director for The New York Times radio station WQXR-FM, asked me to create a program series highlighting the contributions of to in this country, an assignment I embraced with zeal. For this series, which I entitled Classical Music and the Afro-American, I planned my initial interviews of performing artists to include Roland Hayes, , and , the “big three” who inspired the African American community in ways both profound and everlasting. As fate would have it, Ms. Anderson was the only artist who agreed to a recorded interview. Mr. Robeson, living with family in Philadelphia, was too ill to comply. As for Mr. Hayes, I traveled to Brookline with my trusty Uher tape recorder to meet with the first African American “superstar” in classical music, hoping to capture his sentiments and recollections of his international career for all to hear. His lovely wife greeted me at the door and showed me to the parlor where I eagerly awaited the tenor’s arrival. When he appeared he gave me a warm welcome to his home. Even though he later admitted that he had experienced a rather rough winter, a fact apparent in his visage, which was rather drawn, he was immaculately dressed, a telling example of the fact that this iconic figure, who gave a young Marian Anderson one of her earliest opportunities for critical exposure when he invited her to sing on one of his recitals in Philadelphia, was a class act in every way.

When I prepared to tape our interview, Mr. Hayes expressed, much to my disappointment, a desire not to be recorded, which request I of course honored without cavil. Many reasons could have formed the basis for his reticence, e.g., past interviews that he felt misrepresented him in some manner, or the possibility that his present health might work against his ability to express himself in a manner worthy of aural preservation.

Determined not to waste the precious time that was allotted to me to bask in the presence of this paragon, I engaged him in conversation that is recorded only in my memory, thus assuring for myself alone a moment in history that has enriched my life beyond measure and continues to inspire me to use, to the best of my ability, the gifts that God has granted to me.

This recording of Roland Hayes’s The Life of Christ is my loving tribute to the man, the artist, the legend, and the great spirit who, guided by the Great Spirit of God, left the world a legacy that cannot be surpassed.

With gratitude and unfathomable admiration, Tenor George Shirley was born on April 18, 1934 in Indianapolis, Indiana to Irving and Daisy Shirley. By age four he had begun performing as part of a musical trio with his mother and father within the Indianapolis church community. After moving to Detroit, Michigan with his parents at age six, Shirley continued to develop his musical talents, playing euphonium in a community band and studying voice while he was a student at Northern High School. His musical acumen earned him a scholarship to Wayne (State) University where he performed in his first music drama, ’s opera-oratorio , with the university Men’s Glee Club at the Bonstelle Theater in 1955. He completed his baccalaureate degree in music education that same year.

Also in 1955, Shirley became the first African American high school music teacher in the City of Detroit. A year later, after being drafted into the Army, he became the first African American to sing with the U.S. Army Chorus in Washington, D.C. where, influenced by fellow Chorus members, he decided to pursue a post-military career in opera. In 1959, he performed in his first professional opera production, Die Fledermaus by Johann Strauss, with a small opera company in Woodstock, N.Y. The following year, after achieving strong reviews and recommendations, he won the American Opera Auditions Competition, the result of which was a debut in Milan and Florence, Italy in the role of Rodolfo in Puccini’s opera La bohème. In 1961 Shirley won first prize in the Auditions, becoming the first African American tenor to receive a contract to perform leading roles with that company, where he remained for 11 years. He sang major roles in more than twenty , performing there on occasion with fellow African American pioneers and Grace Bumbry. Throughout his years with the Metropolitan Opera and afterwards, Shirley remained in demand around the world, appearing in productions in the United Kingdom; Italy; South America; ; Japan; Washington, D.C.; and in San Francisco, Chicago, Boston, Santa Fe, and host of other American cities where opera is produced. Shirley also won a Grammy Award for his role of Ferrando in an RCA recording of Mozart’s opera Così fan tutte.

In 1980, George Shirley joined the faculty of the University of Maryland as a professor of voice. In 1985, the university honored him with a Distinguished Scholar-Teacher Award. In 1987 he returned to Michigan to accept a professorship at the School of Music, Theatre & Dance. Five years later he was named the Joseph Edgar Maddy Distinguished University Professor of Music (Voice). Upon his retirement in 2007 he was granted emeritus status, but continues to teach a limited number of students at the invitation of the Voice Department, and takes advantage of whatever opportunity he can to support public school music education and encourage young singers who aspire to professional careers.

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