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One of the most famous African-American sopranos, Kathleen Battle received her vocal training at the Cincinnati College Conservatory, where she studied voice with Franklin Bens and also worked with Italo Tajo. While at Cincinnati she came to the attention of conductor Thomas Schippers who brought her to the Spoleto Festival in South Carolina to sing the Brahms Requiem in 1972. She made her stage debut in Rossini's Il barbiere di Siviglia as Rosina with the Michigan Opera Theater in Detroit in 1975. Susanna in Mozart's Le nozze di Figaro was her New York City Opera debut role in 1976. During this time, she also sang orchestral concerts in New York, Los Angeles, and Cleveland. James Levine brought her to the Metropolitan Opera in New York as the Shepherd in Wagner's Tannhäuser in 1978, and she appeared frequently at the Met in important roles until 1994. She first appeared in Europe in 1978 at the Italian Spoleto Festival, and in 1979 debuted at the Glyndebourne Festival.

Her first appearance at Salzburg was in 1982 at an all-Mozart concert, and she often returned in concert, recital and opera. Her important opera roles at Salzburg were Susanna, Zerlina, and Despina, three Mozart roles with which she has been associated at many opera houses around the world. She has appeared at most of the major opera houses of the world including San Francisco, Chicago, Covent Garden, London, Geneva, Vienna, and Berlin. In 1985, she was the soprano soloist in Mozart's Coronation Mass at St. Peter's Cathedral at the Vatican, in a performance conducted by Herbert von Karajan. She sang Handel's Semele in a highly acclaimed performance in 1985 at Carnegie Hall and later recorded the role. In 1990 she was joined by Jessye Norman for a concert of spirituals which was conducted by James Levine at Carnegie Hall. Although best known for roles in the operas of Mozart and Strauss (Zdenka, Sophie and Zerbinetta), Battle has also had great success in Massenet's Werther, Donizetti's L'elisir d'amore, Don Pasquale, and La fille du regiment, Verdi's Un ballo in maschera and Falstaff and Rossini's Il barbiere di Siviglia and L'Italiana in Algeri. Battle has maintained an active recital career, and her Schubert interpretations are very fine. Her recital programs have also featured songs by Mozart, Strauss, Fauré and Rodrigo.

Kathleen Battle's voice is a high, very pure soprano with great charm. She has excellent technical control, which has allowed her to sing the difficult coloratura roles of Rosina and Zerbinetta though her approach is always more lyric that that of most coloratura sopranos. She is an excellent actress and tries to give full characterization to each of her roles. Several of her best roles were televised live from the Metropolitan Opera, New York and later released on video.

A perfectionist in her own work, Battle became more and more difficult to deal with as her career moved forward. Some felt that her demands were becoming unreasonable, and her behavior became erratic. These difficulties came to public attention when she was dismissed from the Metropolitan Opera in 1994 for "unprofessional conduct." Battle has continued to appear in concert and recital and remains a favorite of the public.

American soprano Jessye Norman was one of the most important figures of the 20th and early 21st century opera. In her performances of prominent operatic roles, as well as a celebrated recital and recording career, she was well regarded throughout the world.

Norman was born on September 15, 1945, in Augusta, Georgia. She started singing spirituals at the age of four at Mount Calvary Baptist Church; one Saturday, while doing her chores, she heard an opera for the first time, broadcast on the radio. She became an instant opera fan and started listening to recordings of Marian Anderson and Leontyne Price. Nat "King" Cole was also a major inspiration for her. At 16, Norman began studying at Howard University, where her voice teacher was Carolyn Grant. She sang in the university chorus and worked as a soloist at the Lincoln Temple United Church of Christ. In 1965, she won the National Society of Arts and Letters singing competition. She continued her studies at Peabody Conservatory of Music in Baltimore and at the University of Michigan, where her most important teachers were Elizabeth Mannion and Pierre Bernac.

In 1968, Norman won the Munich Competition, leading to her operatic debut as Elisabeth in Wagner's Tannhäuser in Berlin. A major European operatic career quickly developed: she appeared in Meyerbeer's L'Africaine at Maggio Musicale in Florence in 1971, Verdi's Aïda at La Scala in Milan in 1972, and in Berlioz's Les Troyens at London's Covent Garden the same year. These roles bespeak a major part of Norman's stage persona: a commanding and noble bearing, partly due to her uncommon height and size. However, this was more a function of her unique, rich, and powerful voice. She had an uncommonly wide range, encompassing all female voice registers from contralto to the high dramatic soprano.

As her operatic career developed, Norman also made important recital debuts, including London and New York in 1973. She made an extensive North American concert debut in 1976 and 1977 but did not appear in opera in the U.S. until 1982. This was with the Opera Company of Philadelphia, in a double bill as Dido in Purcell's Dido and Aeneas and Queen Jocasta in Stravinsky's Oedipus Rex. Her Metropolitan Opera debut was as Cassandra in 1983, the opening night of the Met's centennial season.

Her interpretation of Strauss' Four Last Songs was legendary. Its slowness was controversial, but the tonal qualities of her voice were ideal for these final works of the great Romantic German lieder tradition. She also sang Schoenberg's Gurrelieder and his opera Erwartung; she sang this on a memorable double bill at the Met with Bartók's Bluebeard's Castle, which was broadcast nationally. She appeared on live broadcasts of season-opening concerts of the New York Philharmonic.

Norman was acclaimed in her singing of Mussorgsky songs in the original Russian, the German Romantic lieder repertoire, and French music from Berlioz to contemporary composers. Another major part of her musical life was in the performance of American music. These included jazz standards, the sacred music of Duke Ellington, African American spirituals, and woman.life.song., a song cycle composed by Judith Weir, commissioned for Norman by Carnegie Hall.

Throughout her life, Norman was asked to perform in many important ceremonies in the U.S. and abroad. These include singing the French national anthem for the 200th anniversary of the French revolution, the funeral of Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis, the opening ceremony of the 1996 Summer Olympics in Atlanta, and singing America, the Beautiful at the dedication of the memorial columns of light at the site of the World Trade Center in New York.

Norman had an extensive and successful recording career, mainly recording on the Philips label. She released albums of opera, recital, jazz, and Christmas music. She won five Grammy awards, including the "Grammy for Lifetime Achievement" in 2006.

Jessye Norman died in New York on September 30, 2019, following complications from a spinal cord injury suffered in 2015. ~ Joseph Stevenson & Keith Finke

Conductor and pianist James Levine was a major figure in the world of opera and orchestral music for more than 40 years. He led operatic productions and concert performances all over the world, also serving as a collaborative pianist on occasion. Most notable was his stint as music director of New York's Metropolitan Opera for more than 40 years. By the time of his death in 2021, Levine had appeared on well over 200 recordings, many of which remain highly influential.

Levine was born on June 23, 1943, in Cincinnati, Ohio. He studied both violin and piano as a child, and on the former instrument, he appeared with the Cincinnati Symphony at age ten in Mendelssohn's Violin Concerto in E minor, Op. 64. By his late teens, he was studying piano at summer music festivals. At the Juilliard School in Manhattan, New York, Levine continued piano studies with Rosa Lhevinne and took conducting classes with Jean Morel. Levine served an apprenticeship with George Szell of the Cleveland Orchestra, becoming an assistant conductor of the orchestra from 1965 to 1970. In 1973, he became the music director of the Ravinia Festival (the Chicago Symphony's summer home) and Cincinnati's May Festival. He made his debut with New York's Metropolitan Opera in a 1971 summer performance, conducting Puccini's Tosca.

In 1972, after the departure of Rafael Kubelik, the Metropolitan Opera appointed Levine as principal conductor. He gained the rank of music director in 1975 and would hold it for more than 40 years. Levine was effectively the first music director of the Met, which had always featured various conductors. Levine's long tenure at the Metropolitan was remarkably long by world standards, inaugurating something of a golden age at the house. He built the Metropolitan Opera Orchestra into what is generally regarded as a world-class ensemble to his leadership. A 1996 gala celebrating Levine's 25th anniversary attracted numerous singers; Levine conducted the entire eight-hour extravaganza.

Levine was highly esteemed in Europe as well. In 1975, Levine began a long series of appearances at the Salzburg Festival in Austria, often conducting Mozart. An early recording -- from 1977 -- featured tenor Plácido Domingo and soprano Renata Scotto, with Levine leading the Philharmonia Orchestra of London in Cilea's Adriana Lecouvreur. He was equally adept in the heavier operas of Wagner, appearing at the Bayreuth Festival in Germany beginning in 1982. In Europe, he was highly visible as a conductor of instrumental music, leading such groups as the Berlin and Vienna Philharmonic Orchestras. He was the chief conductor of the Munich Philharmonic Orchestra from 1999 until 2004. In 2004, Levine moved to the Boston Symphony Orchestra, holding this position until 2011. In 2016, following the revelation (after many denials) that he had been diagnosed with Parkinson's disease, Levine resigned as the music director of the Metropolitan Opera. He was given the title of conductor emeritus. A series of sexual assault allegations came to light in 2017; those led to his termination by the Met in 2018. Levine denied the allegations; in 2020, he reached a settlement with the company later reported to have involved a $3.5 million payment to the conductor.

Levine was an impressively versatile conductor, with a repertory ranging from Bach, Haydn, and Mozart to Iannis Xenakis. His more than 200 recordings reflected that variety. As a conductor, he was charismatic but businesslike. He issued numerous recordings with the Metropolitan Opera (often on the RCA label) and other opera houses. Levine also led orchestral recordings with such ensembles as the Chicago Symphony Orchestra (on the soundtrack to Fantasia 2000). Levine was a superb collaborative pianist who performed and recorded with top vocalists and was also heard on several chamber music recordings. Levine died in Palm Springs, California, on March 9, 2021. ~ James Manheim