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Shirley Verrett, Opera Great

Shirley Verrett, Opera Great - Opera star Shirley Verrett, one of the world's most distinguished mezzo-sopranos and known in her prime for a beguiling marriage of vocal richness and riveting characterizations on stage, died Friday.

Verrett was 79 and lived in Ann Arbor, where she had taught at the University of Michigan since 1996. Her death was confirmed by her friend and colleague, tenor George Shirley.

He said she died in her sleep after a long illness.

"She was one of America's greatest opera singers," Shirley said. "She had a tremendous impact artistically and as a person, and in recent years she was a wonderful teacher and mentor for students. She was an extension of the Marian Anderson figure -- dignified, gracious and possessed of an outstanding voice and interpretive sense."

Verrett, who came to prominence during the full flush of the civil rights movement, was also known, as critic Tim Page once put it, "for her membership in that pioneering group of African-American singers who broke down the opera world's longstanding color bar."

Born on May 31, 1931, in New Orleans, Verrett (pronounced Ver-EHTT) rose to international stardom as one of the great Carmens, beginning with performances at the Spoleto Festival in 1962. She sang the role two years later at New York City Opera, followed by La Scala in Milan and the Metropolitan Opera in 1968 and Covent Garden in London in 1973.

Shirley Verrett, Opera Great
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