Harolyn Blackwell

Quick Facts

Full Name	Harolyn Blackwell
Occupation	Singer
Date Of Birth	Nov 23, 1955(1955-11-23)
Age	69
Birthplace	Washington, D.C.
Country	United States
Horoscope	Scorpio

Harolyn Blackwell Biography

Harolyn Blackwell is one of the most popular and richest Singer who was born on November 23, 1955 in Washington, D.C., United States. She is also an excellent singer of concert repertoire. She has performed with the Pittsburgh Symphony and the Dallas Symphony as well as the New York Philharmonic. She has performed many other concert works, including Samuel Barber’s Knoxville, Summer of 1915, Brahms’s Requiem and Haydn’s Messiah.

Blackwell studied vocal music education at Catholic University. She also took classes in the University’s musical theater and drama programs. Blackwell stated, “I wasn’t sure if I wanted to pursue musical theater or classical music.” I knew I wanted to receive classical training, no matter what I did. I was keen to be able to understand and apply the theory and technical knowledge of classical music. Catholic University had both a strong drama department and a great music department. It was the best of both worlds. They were right next to me, so I spent a lot of time switching between the drama and music departments. Blackwell graduated in 1977 with an undergraduate degree. She taught music at two parochial schools and continued her vocal studies at Catholic University. In 1980, she received a Masters degree in vocal performance.

At the beginning of her career, Blackwell played mostly soubrette roles and has since moved more into the lyric coloratura soprano repertoire. Blackwell has commented that she felt opera houses were initially uncertain as to how to cast her because of her musical theater background. She said, “They saw me in the lighter repertoire and my voice teacher and I saw me in the lyric repertoire.” In addition, her small frame and 5’1″ stature in combination with girlish looks made her a perfect physical casting choice for soubrette roles. It wasn’t until Blackwell studied in Busseto with Carlo Bergonzi, Renata Tebaldi, and Sylvia Barrachi in the late 1980s that she finally was given direction into the lyric coloratura repertoire. Blackwell recalls, “At the end of the program Mrs. Barrachi and Renata Tebaldi sat down with me and told me what roles I should sing if I wanted to have a major career. Having those two women take the time to talk to me made a big difference. I have always been the type of individual that takes all the information and then makes the decision that’s appropriate for me. I can be very stubborn. I really do have to credit those two women for saving me.”

In 1981, Blackwell auditioned for and was accepted into both the Houston Grand Opera and Lyric Opera of Chicago young artist programs. Having to choose between the two, Blackwell decided to go to Chicago. After singing with the company in small parts for a year, Blackwell left the program and moved back to New York to study vocal technique more intensely with Shirlee Emmons. She went on to win the Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions in 1983. Up to this point Blackwell was still uncertain as to whether she would continue pursuing an opera career or go back to musical theater. With winning the Met Auditions, however, her career path became decidedly reoriented towards opera. “It fit so naturally”, she explains of the then new foray into opera, “it was as if I’d put on a pair of old shoes.” Following her win, Blackwell continued in her apprenticeship at the Lyric Opera of Chicago for a year. In 1987 she made her Metropolitan Opera debut as Poussette in Manon. Since then Blackwell’s career has flourished. She has appeared several more times with the Metropolitan Opera in productions such as Un ballo in maschera, Le nozze di Figaro, Die Fledermaus, and Werther among others.

Blackwell, who was a teacher in her family’s music history, has always considered herself an educator and opera singer. Blackwell recalls her teaching years in the late 1970s. She says, “I taught in two parochial schools, one Washington, D.C., the other Bethesda, Maryland, so I had to fight for my kids to be able go to the Kennedy Center to watch an opera.” I got the English teacher and the history teacher together to work on this project. We all discussed the music, art, and literature of the period.

Harolyn Blackwell Net Worth

Harolyn Blackwell is one of the richest Singer from United States. According to our analysis, Wikipedia, Forbes & Business Insider, Harolyn Blackwell 's net worth $5 Million. (Last Update: December 11, 2023)

Harolyn Blackwell, the oldest of five children, was born in Washington, D.C., on November 23, 1955. Her parents were both teachers and actively participated in the Civil Rights Movement. Harold Blackwell, her father, was a redevelopment specialist at the United States Department of Housing and Urban Development in Washington, D.C., and her mother was a physical education and health teacher at the University of the District of Columbia.

Harolyn Blackwell, born November 23, 1955, is an American soprano in lyric coloratura. She has appeared in many of the finest opera houses and concert halls around the globe, as well as theaters for operas, oratorios and recitals. Blackwell was initially known for her work in musical theater in the 1980s. She then moved to opera in 1987 and had become a well-known artist in the sobrette repertoire at many opera houses in both the United States and Europe. Blackwell felt that she was being “type-cast” into a particular role and began to work towards establishing herself in the lyric colouratura repertoire in the mid-1990s. Blackwell was able to make this transition with the help of companies like Seattle Opera. She is now an interpreter for such roles as Lucia di Lammermoor in Donizetti’s Lucia di Lammermoor, and Olympia in Offenbach’s Les contes d’Hoffman. She has returned to musical theater performance occasionally throughout her career, in concert work, staged productions, and recitals. Blackwell is well-known for recording and interpreting the works of Leonard Bernstein.

In 1979, while preparing a recital program for her master’s degree, Blackwell auditioned for the Broadway revival of West Side Story. Impressed with her audition, Leonard Bernstein hand picked her for the role of Francisca (formerly named Consuela in the original 1957 production) and the understudy for Maria in the 1980 revival. As Francisca, Blackwell sang the song Somewhere from the orchestra pit during the final scene of the musical. For the next two-and-a-half years she toured with the show, gaining skills no operatic training could have provided. Blackwell said, “I learned about characterization, how you went about becoming that person”, she said. “I learned stamina, how to do eight shows a week. And I learned to make the stage my home, where I felt 100 percent comfortable.” At the show’s premiere, critics remarked how similar Blackwell sounded to opera singer Reri Grist who originated the role of Consuela. Coincidentally, Blackwell met and befriended Grist in 1985 when she coached Blackwell for her European debut as Oscar in Verdi’s Un ballo in maschera with the Hamburg State Opera. She repeated that role the following year at the Lyric Opera of Chicago.

Height, Weight & Body Measurements

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Throughout the early 1990s, Blackwell remained active in performances with opera companies throughout the United States and Europe. Most notably, in 1994 Blackwell replaced Kathleen Battle as Marie in La fille du régiment at the Metropolitan Opera for the entire run when Battle was fired from the production for unprofessional conduct. This has inevitably caused critics to compare the two singers, and indeed both women have played many of the same roles and share a similar vocal quality. In a 2003 interview Blackwell said, “Kathleen has been very supportive and very good to me over my career. Mattiwilda Dobbs, Reri Grist and Kathy were basically the predecessors for me and I really am grateful to those women, especially with my particular fach. I mean, singing Aïda or Leonora is one thing, but the lyric repertory roles are not star vehicles. It just doesn’t happen and I think these women have really helped in that respect.”

Facts & Trivia

Harolyn Ranked on the list of most popular Singer. Also ranked in the elit list of famous people born in United States. Harolyn Blackwell celebrates birthday on November 23 of every year.

In 1997 Blackwell returned to Broadway to star as Cunegonde in Bernstein’s Candide. Although Blackwell earned rave reviews for her singing, the production as a whole was not well received. Most critics blamed the productions flaws on Hal Prince’s interpretation and direction that caused a lack of overall focus within the show. Others have blamed the problems on inherent flaws within the musical’s book. Blackwell can be heard on the recording of the 1997 revival. Blackwell had also previously recorded several other works by Bernstein the year before on her solo album Blackwell Sings Bernstein that was released on the RCA label. The album features a guest performance by Vanessa L. Williams as Anita in selections from West Side Story.