Marian Anderson
Peter Brathwaite shares his love of the voice of Marian Anderson and why it is so special.
The Essay · BBC Radio 3
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Show Notes
Opera singer Peter Brathwaite shares his passion for five very different singers whose voices, artistry and lives inspire and move him, and whose stories he needs to tell.
‘A voice like yours is heard only once in a hundred years’: so said conductor Arturo Toscanini to Marian Anderson, the African American contralto whose concert on Easter Sunday concert on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial in 1939 became a defining moment in America's civil rights movement. Peter invites us to dive with him into Anderson’s extraordinary voice, exploring its sonic qualities as well as its cultural and historical importance, and why for him, a black opera singer in 2021, Marian Anderson’s voice still resonates so deeply.