Everett Lee
Everett Lee | |
---|---|
Background information | |
Born | Wheeling, West Virginia, U.S. | August 31, 1916
Died | January 12, 2022 Malmö, Sweden | (aged 105)
Genres | Orchestral, opera, musical |
Occupation(s) | Conductor, opera music director, musician, music scholar |
Instrument(s) | Violin, Viola, oboe |
Everett Astor Lee (August 31, 1916 – January 12, 2022) was an American symphonic conductor, opera music director, violinist and music scholar.
Life and career
Lee was born in
In 1946, Lee won a
Lee was met with undisguised racism throughout his career. Oscar Hammerstein II declined to hire Lee to conduct touring productions of his shows, explaining that Southern theaters would refuse to book them.[5] Concert manager Arthur Judson told Lee, "I don't believe in Negro symphony conductors."[5] Deciding that he would find better opportunities outside of America, Lee moved to Germany with his family in 1954. In 1962, he was appointed chief conductor of the Norrköping Symphony Orchestra in Sweden, a position he held for a decade.
Lee was a conductor at Carnegie Hall in New York City with the Symphony of the New World and the American Symphony Orchestra from 1969 to 1983. At one of his performances in 1983, he conducted Opera Ebony and the American Symphony Orchestra. The program included Lee conducting Joseph Bologne, Chevalier de Saint-Georges’ “Ernestine” opera excerpts, William Grant Still’s “Troubled Island” opera duet, Spiritual selections and other vocal and orchestral works. Featured soloists included, Benjamin Matthews, baritone (co-founder of Opera Ebony), Joy Simpson, Alpha Floyd, Joyce Mathis, sopranos and Michael Austin, tenor. Lee was a speaker on the program for the Tribute to Sylvia Olden Lee, Master Musician and Teacher concert at Carnegie Hall on June 29, 2017.[12][13] In 1975, he debuted as Music Director of the Symphony of the New World for a series of concerts in Washington, D.C. In 1976, he conducted the New York Philharmonic for the first time; the concert was in honor of Martin Luther King Jr.'s birthday and included a work by African-American composer David Baker. In 1979, he became music director of the Bogotá Philharmonic Orchestra in Colombia. Lee conducted nearly 1,000 orchestral pieces, about 100 choral and operatic works and two Broadway works in the United States, Europe and South America.[1][2][14]
Personal life and death
Lee married the accompanist and vocal coach Sylvia Olden (1917–2004) in 1944.[15] They had two children, the late Everett Lee III and Dr. Eve Lee. They divorced and Lee later married opera singer Christin Andersson, in 1979. They had one son, opera singer Erik Andersson. At the time of his death, Lee lived in Malmö, Sweden, where he died on January 12, 2022, at the age of 105.[2][16][17]
See also
References
- ^ a b "Maestro Everett Lee, first African American to lead New York City Opera passes away at 105". The Philadelphia Sunday Sun. Retrieved January 18, 2022.
- ^ The Intelligencer and Wheeling News Register. Retrieved January 19, 2022.
- ^ a b Cheatham, Wallace, ed. Dialogues on Opera and the African-American Experience. Lanham: Scarecrow Press, 1997.
- ^ a b "Yesterday in Negro History." Jet, April 22, 1965. 11.
- ^ a b c d e f Oja, Carol J. (2013). "Everett Lee and the Racial Politics of Orchestral Conducting". American Music Review (Fall 2013). Retrieved August 14, 2016.
- ^ Terrance McKnight (August 31, 2016). "Happy 100th Birthday Everett Lee, Trailblazing Conductor". WQXR-FM. Retrieved November 3, 2016.
- ^ "Cleveland Violinist Puts Aside Music For Pursuit Plane at Tuskegee Field" Cleveland” Call and Post, June 19, 1943. 10A.
- ^ "Tuskegee Airmen”, www.history.com, retrieved January 25, 2022.
- ^ Parmenter, Ross. "The World of Music: Season's Start", The New York Times, August 31, 1947.
- ^ Louisville Courier-Journal, February 1, 2010.
- ^ "Everett Lee Conducts at City Center", The New York Times, April 18, 1955.
- ^ "Performance History Search". Carnegie Hall’s Digital Collections. Retrieved January 25, 2022.
- ^ Steinberg, Barbara (July 24, 2015). "A Conversation With Everett Lee". Retrieved January 25, 2022.
- ^ "Wheeling Born Maestro Celebrates 100th Birthday". www.archivingwheeling.org August 31, 2016 by Erin Rothenbuehler. Retrieved January 13, 2022.
- ^ Latty, Yvonne. "Sylvia Olden Lee, 86, music-world icon", Philadelphia Daily News April 16, 2004.
- ^ "Everett Lee, Who Broke Color Barriers on the Conductor's Podium, Dies at 105". The New York Times. January 22, 2022. Retrieved January 24, 2022.
- ^ En maestro har gått ur tiden – ledde SON i tio år