Denyce Graves
Encyclopedia
Denyce Graves is an American
mezzo-soprano
opera
singer.
section of Washington. She graduated from the Duke Ellington School of the Arts
in 1981. Graves studied voice at the Oberlin Conservatory of Music
and the New England Conservatory. She worked at the Wolf Trap Opera Company
, which provides further training and experience for young singers who are between their academic training and full-time professional careers.
in 1995 and has appeared at many opera houses. Though her repertoire is extensive, her signature parts are the title roles in Carmen
and Samson et Dalila
. On January 20, 2005, she sang the patriotic song "American Anthem" during the 55th Presidential Inauguration
, between the swearing-in ceremonies of Vice President Dick Cheney
and President George W. Bush
for their second terms in office.
Graves sang "America the Beautiful
" and "The Lord's Prayer
" at the Washington National Cathedral
during a memorial service for the victims of 9/11 on September 14, 2001, attended by President Bush, members of Congress, other politicians and representatives of foreign governments.
In 2003, Graves performed in front of a live audience at the Mann Center for the Performing Arts in Philadelphia for a television special, Denyce Graves: Breaking the Rules. Since 2005, she has hosted the radio show Voce di Donna (Voice of a Lady) on Vox!, the vocal classical music channel of XM Satellite Radio
. Graves often was heard on The Tony Kornheiser Show
radio program with her rendition of the "Mailbag Theme".
She performed the opera Werther
with Andrea Bocelli
for the Michigan Opera Theatre
, the first opera broadcast on the Internet
in its entirety in 1999. She is currently an industry panelist on American Idol Underground
.
On January 2, 2007, Graves performed "The Lord's Prayer" at the state funeral for Gerald Ford
at the Washington National Cathedral.
Graves sang "The Star-Spangled Banner
" as part of the pre-game ceremonies inaugurating Nationals Park.
On April 12, 2009, Graves performed a tribute concert to Marian Anderson
at the Lincoln Memorial
in Washington, organized by the Abraham Lincoln Bicentennial Commission
. In May 2010, Graves performed a concert with tenor Lawrence Brownlee
in the United States Supreme Court Building
for the Supreme Court justices.
On the evening of September 11, 2011, Graves performed at the "Concert for Hope" at the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C. to commemorate the 10th anniversary of the September 11, 2001 attacks.
, later, Graves married guitarist David Perry in 1990 and divorced in the early 2000s. She then had a relationship with French composer and clarinetist Vincent Thomas. After breaking up Graves discovered she was pregnant, something she thought was impossible because she had been told that fibroids and other conditions prevented her from getting pregnant and Thomas told her he had a vasectomy. In June 2004, she gave birth to Ella (named after Ella Fitzgerald
) via emergency C-section in Paris. In June 2006, she met Robert Montgomery, a Johns Hopkins
doctor, on an airplane from Dulles Airport to Paris. They were married on June 29, 2009, in a family-only affair. In August the couple travelled to Kenya for a tradition Maasai blessing and had a five-day wedding celebration in September that featured a kick-off party in a private airplane hangar, a rehearsal dinner at their home, a reception at the Anderson House in Dupont Circle, and a day-after picnic on the grounds of Duke Ellington High School. Montgomery is now the Chief of Transplant Surgery at Johns Hopkins Medical Center. The couple resides in Bethesda, Maryland
.
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
mezzo-soprano
Mezzo-soprano
A mezzo-soprano is a type of classical female singing voice whose range lies between the soprano and the contralto singing voices, usually extending from the A below middle C to the A two octaves above...
opera
Opera
Opera is an art form in which singers and musicians perform a dramatic work combining text and musical score, usually in a theatrical setting. Opera incorporates many of the elements of spoken theatre, such as acting, scenery, and costumes and sometimes includes dance...
singer.
Early life
Graves was born on March 7, 1964, to Charles Graves and Dorothy (Middleton) Graves-Kenner. She is the middle of three children and was raised by her mother on Galveston Street, S.W., in the BellevueBellevue, Washington, D.C.
Bellevue is a residential neighborhood located in Southwest Washington, D.C, east of Bolling Air Force Base. It is bounded by Martin Luther King, Jr. Avenue SW to the west and northwest, Joliet Street SW to the south, and First Street and South Capitol Street on the east. There are many garden...
section of Washington. She graduated from the Duke Ellington School of the Arts
Duke Ellington School of the Arts
The Duke Ellington School of the Arts is a high school located at 35th Street and R Street, Northwest, Washington, D.C., and dedicated to arts education. One of the high schools of the District of Columbia Public School system, it is named for the American jazz bandleader and composer Edward...
in 1981. Graves studied voice at the Oberlin Conservatory of Music
Oberlin Conservatory of Music
The Oberlin Conservatory of Music, located on the campus of Oberlin College in Oberlin, Ohio, was founded in 1865 and is the oldest continuously operating conservatory in the United States. Students of Oberlin Conservatory enter a very broad network within the music world, as the school's alumni...
and the New England Conservatory. She worked at the Wolf Trap Opera Company
Wolf Trap Opera Company
The Wolf Trap Opera Company produces a summer opera festival as part of the program of the Wolf Trap National Park for the Performing Arts in Vienna, Virginia....
, which provides further training and experience for young singers who are between their academic training and full-time professional careers.
Career
She made her debut at the Metropolitan OperaMetropolitan Opera
The Metropolitan Opera is an opera company, located in New York City. Originally founded in 1880, the company gave its first performance on October 22, 1883. The company is operated by the non-profit Metropolitan Opera Association, with Peter Gelb as general manager...
in 1995 and has appeared at many opera houses. Though her repertoire is extensive, her signature parts are the title roles in Carmen
Carmen
Carmen is a French opéra comique by Georges Bizet. The libretto is by Henri Meilhac and Ludovic Halévy, based on the novella of the same title by Prosper Mérimée, first published in 1845, itself possibly influenced by the narrative poem The Gypsies by Alexander Pushkin...
and Samson et Dalila
Samson and Delilah (opera)
Samson and Delilah , Op. 47, is a grand opera in three acts and four scenes by Camille Saint-Saëns to a French libretto by Ferdinand Lemaire...
. On January 20, 2005, she sang the patriotic song "American Anthem" during the 55th Presidential Inauguration
Second inauguration of George W. Bush
The second inauguration of George W. Bush as the 43rd President of the United States took place on Thursday January 20, 2005. The inauguration marked the beginning of the second term of George W. Bush as President and Dick Cheney as Vice President. Ailing Chief Justice William Rehnquist...
, between the swearing-in ceremonies of Vice President Dick Cheney
Dick Cheney
Richard Bruce "Dick" Cheney served as the 46th Vice President of the United States , under George W. Bush....
and President George W. Bush
George W. Bush
George Walker Bush is an American politician who served as the 43rd President of the United States, from 2001 to 2009. Before that, he was the 46th Governor of Texas, having served from 1995 to 2000....
for their second terms in office.
Graves sang "America the Beautiful
America the Beautiful
"America the Beautiful" is an American patriotic song. The lyrics were written by Katharine Lee Bates and the music composed by church organist and choirmaster Samuel A. Ward....
" and "The Lord's Prayer
The Lord's Prayer (song)
"The Lord's Prayer" is a musical setting of the Lord's Prayer written by Albert Hay Malotte in 1935 and recorded by numerous singers including John Charles Thomas, Perry Como, Doris Day, Gracie Fields, Mahalia Jackson, Mario Lanza, Elvis Presley, and Ronnie Milsap...
" at the Washington National Cathedral
Washington National Cathedral
The Washington National Cathedral, officially named the Cathedral Church of Saint Peter and Saint Paul, is a cathedral of the Episcopal Church located in Washington, D.C., the capital of the United States. Of neogothic design, it is the sixth-largest cathedral in the world, the second-largest in...
during a memorial service for the victims of 9/11 on September 14, 2001, attended by President Bush, members of Congress, other politicians and representatives of foreign governments.
In 2003, Graves performed in front of a live audience at the Mann Center for the Performing Arts in Philadelphia for a television special, Denyce Graves: Breaking the Rules. Since 2005, she has hosted the radio show Voce di Donna (Voice of a Lady) on Vox!, the vocal classical music channel of XM Satellite Radio
XM Satellite Radio
XM Satellite Radio is one of two satellite radio services in the United States and Canada, operated by Sirius XM Radio. It provides pay-for-service radio, analogous to cable television. Its service includes 73 different music channels, 39 news, sports, talk and entertainment channels, 21 regional...
. Graves often was heard on The Tony Kornheiser Show
The Tony Kornheiser Show
The Tony Kornheiser Show is a sports radio talk show out of Washington, D.C. hosted by Tony Kornheiser, which appeared on WTEM from 1992 to 1997; on ESPN Radio between 1998 and 2004; back on WTEM from 2004 to 2006; and on WTWP and then WWWT in 2007 and 2008; and back on WTEM since September 8, 2009...
radio program with her rendition of the "Mailbag Theme".
She performed the opera Werther
Werther
Werther is an opera in four acts by Jules Massenet to a French libretto by Édouard Blau, Paul Milliet and Georges Hartmann based on the German epistolary novel The Sorrows of Young Werther by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe....
with Andrea Bocelli
Andrea Bocelli
Andrea Bocelli, is an Italian tenor, multi-instrumentalist and classical crossover artist. Born with poor eyesight, he became blind at the age of twelve following a soccer accident....
for the Michigan Opera Theatre
Michigan Opera Theatre
Michigan Opera Theatre is Michigan's principal opera company. The company is based in Detroit, where it performs in the Detroit Opera House. Each year it presents an opera and dance season. The company usually presents five operas in their original language with English supertitles and hosts five...
, the first opera broadcast on the Internet
Internet
The Internet is a global system of interconnected computer networks that use the standard Internet protocol suite to serve billions of users worldwide...
in its entirety in 1999. She is currently an industry panelist on American Idol Underground
American Idol Underground
Artist Underground was founded by Justin Beckett in 2006 and was an online community and internet radio station where unsigned artists where able to get their music heard. Artists submit their music to Idol Underground for a fee and receive feedback from listeners...
.
On January 2, 2007, Graves performed "The Lord's Prayer" at the state funeral for Gerald Ford
Death and state funeral of Gerald Ford
On December 26, 2006, Gerald Ford, the 38th President of the United States, died at his home in Rancho Mirage, California, at 6:45 p.m. local time . At 8:49 p.m...
at the Washington National Cathedral.
Graves sang "The Star-Spangled Banner
The Star-Spangled Banner
"The Star-Spangled Banner" is the national anthem of the United States of America. The lyrics come from "Defence of Fort McHenry", a poem written in 1814 by the 35-year-old lawyer and amateur poet, Francis Scott Key, after witnessing the bombardment of Fort McHenry by the British Royal Navy ships...
" as part of the pre-game ceremonies inaugurating Nationals Park.
On April 12, 2009, Graves performed a tribute concert to Marian Anderson
Marian Anderson
Marian Anderson was an African-American contralto and one of the most celebrated singers of the twentieth century...
at the Lincoln Memorial
Lincoln Memorial
The Lincoln Memorial is an American memorial built to honor the 16th President of the United States, Abraham Lincoln. It is located on the National Mall in Washington, D.C. The architect was Henry Bacon, the sculptor of the main statue was Daniel Chester French, and the painter of the interior...
in Washington, organized by the Abraham Lincoln Bicentennial Commission
Abraham Lincoln Bicentennial Commission
The Abraham Lincoln Bicentennial Commission was the Congressionally created 14-member federal commission focused on planning and commemorating the 200th birthday of the United States' 16th president on February 12, 2009. The commission served for ten years, from 2000 to 2010...
. In May 2010, Graves performed a concert with tenor Lawrence Brownlee
Lawrence Brownlee
Lawrence Brownlee is an American operatic tenor particularly associated with the bel canto repertoire. In 2001 he won the Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions. He was named Seattle Opera's Artist of the Year in 2008 for his performances as Arturo in Bellini's I puritani. He has also...
in the United States Supreme Court Building
United States Supreme Court building
The Supreme Court Building is the seat of the Supreme Court of the United States. It is situated in Washington, D.C. at 1 First Street, NE, on the block immediately east of the United States Capitol. The building is under the jurisdiction of the Architect of the Capitol. On May 4, 1987, the Supreme...
for the Supreme Court justices.
On the evening of September 11, 2011, Graves performed at the "Concert for Hope" at the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C. to commemorate the 10th anniversary of the September 11, 2001 attacks.
Personal life
In the late 1980's she was involved with tenor, Fernando del ValleFernando del Valle
Fernando del Valle is an American operatic tenor.-Ancestry:He took the name del Valle in honour of his grandfather, Fernando Meléndez del Valle, who was also a tenor...
, later, Graves married guitarist David Perry in 1990 and divorced in the early 2000s. She then had a relationship with French composer and clarinetist Vincent Thomas. After breaking up Graves discovered she was pregnant, something she thought was impossible because she had been told that fibroids and other conditions prevented her from getting pregnant and Thomas told her he had a vasectomy. In June 2004, she gave birth to Ella (named after Ella Fitzgerald
Ella Fitzgerald
Ella Jane Fitzgerald , also known as the "First Lady of Song" and "Lady Ella," was an American jazz and song vocalist...
) via emergency C-section in Paris. In June 2006, she met Robert Montgomery, a Johns Hopkins
Johns Hopkins Hospital
The Johns Hopkins Hospital is the teaching hospital and biomedical research facility of Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, located in Baltimore, Maryland . It was founded using money from a bequest by philanthropist Johns Hopkins...
doctor, on an airplane from Dulles Airport to Paris. They were married on June 29, 2009, in a family-only affair. In August the couple travelled to Kenya for a tradition Maasai blessing and had a five-day wedding celebration in September that featured a kick-off party in a private airplane hangar, a rehearsal dinner at their home, a reception at the Anderson House in Dupont Circle, and a day-after picnic on the grounds of Duke Ellington High School. Montgomery is now the Chief of Transplant Surgery at Johns Hopkins Medical Center. The couple resides in Bethesda, Maryland
Bethesda, Maryland
Bethesda is a census designated place in southern Montgomery County, Maryland, United States, just northwest of Washington, D.C. It takes its name from a local church, the Bethesda Meeting House , which in turn took its name from Jerusalem's Pool of Bethesda...
.
External links
- Denyce Graves
- [ allmusic.com biography]