Grace Bumbry, the St. Louis-born mezzo-soprano who rocked the operatic world as the rich-voiced “Black Venus” of Bayreuth in 1961, died May 7, 2023, at age 86 in Vienna. She had been hospitalized following a stroke. One of the great voices of the 20th century, she had a wide vocal range, dramatic conviction and the determination to work and succeed in a difficult field, despite the barriers she faced.
That Grace Melzia Ann Bumbry had a notable voice was evident early. Born Jan. 4, 1937, to Melzia and Benjamin Bumbry, a housewife and railroad porter, she began singing in the choir at Union Memorial United Methodist Church at age 11 and at Sumner High School a few years later. But Grace Bumbry, who grew up at 1703 Goode Avenue (now Annie Malone Drive), encountered too much racism in St. Louis to linger here for long. As an adult, she made her home in Europe.
As a teenager, she won a scholarship to the now-defunct St. Louis Institute of Music, only to be turned away because she was an African American. But after a notable appearance on Arthur Godfrey’s TV talent show in 1954, she won a scholarship to Boston University. From there, she went to Northwestern University, then became a protege of the legendary German dramatic soprano Lotte Lehmann at the University of California, Santa Barbara.
Grammy-winning opera singer Grace Bumbry
She was a joint winner of the Metropolitan Opera auditions in 1958, made her recital debut in London a year later and her operatic debut at the Paris Opera in the role of Amneris in Verdi’s “Aida” in 1960.
In 1961, Bumbry became the first African American singer to perform at Germany’s Bayreuth Festival, where she won the Wagner Medal. She became an instant international sensation as “die schwartze Venus” in Wagner’s “Tannhauser,” in performances remarkable for the warmth and sensuality of her voice and her dramatic presence.
In the 1960s, Bumbry made debuts at most of the world’s greatest opera houses, including the Metropolitan Opera, the Royal Opera House at Covent Garden, Lyric Opera of Chicago, the Vienna Staatsoper and La Scala. She never did small roles or bit parts. Bumbry started out in major dramatic mezzo-soprano roles: Along with Amneris and Venus, she made her name in challenging roles, such as Verdi’s Eboli, Azucena and Ulrica; Bizet’s Carmen and Saint-Saens’ Dalila.
Particularly in the 1970s and ’80s, Bumbry took on dramatic soprano roles, including Puccini’s Tosca and Strauss’ Salome, with great success.
“I consider myself a singer who uses all of her voice,” she told Joel Kasow of Operanet in 1997. “Too many singers stay within one certain boundary. Instead of using all their instrument, they just use that portion that is required at that particular time, instead of trying to do whatever they can with their entire voice.”
She took heat in the closed-in world of opera for stepping out of the mezzo roles that made her famous.
“It wasn’t enough for me just to do Carmen and Santuzza,” she told playwright and opera fan Albert Innaurato for Opera News in 2001. “I had those other qualities in me, and I knew I could realize them. But sometimes you are lucky, and then sometimes it doesn’t work. So, as my mother would say, ‘Pick yourself up, never let them see you cry, and know how to get out of there fast.’”
Her final operatic performance was in 1997 as Klytamnestra in Strauss’ “Elektra” in Lyon, France. Bumbry continued singing as a recitalist but concentrated most of her considerable energies on teaching after her retirement from opera. Based in Lugano, Italy, for 40 years, she moved in 2002 to Salzburg, Austria.
At age 23, Bumbry sang at the Kiel Opera House with the St. Louis Symphony Orchestra, for a mostly white audience. She won a Grammy in 1972 for best opera recording. In 1992, she was awarded a star on the St. Louis Walk of Fame, at 6319 Delmar Boulevard. In 2002, she performed here for the final time at the St. Louis Art Museum, for an audience of devoted listeners.
In 2009, she founded the Grace Bumbry Vocal and Opera Academy in Berlin, at the Hochschule für Musik, overseeing journeyman singers in their preparation for roles, auditions and general preparation for performance. Bumbry focused on interpretation and vocal technique with students from around the world. That same year, she was given Kennedy Center Honors by President Barack Obama. Bumbry also was an ambassador at large for UNESCO.
She returned from time to time to St. Louis to lend assistance to charitable works, including a concert for Kingdom House, and gave master classes for the singers of the Gerdine Young Artists program at Opera Theatre of St. Louis in 2006 and again in 2016.
Bumbry “had unbelievable technique, and she was also an incredibly thoughtful interpreter of text,” said Andrew Jorgensen, general director of OTSL. “She really breathed meaning into the words.”
Her talent was “unlike any others and one that we will long, long remember and celebrate,” he said. Bumbry was an honored guest at OTSL’s 2016 spring gala.
She sometimes was criticized as “difficult,” which, in opera can be another way of saying that she had her own clear vision of how a role should be sung and portrayed. Bumbry was an operatic diva in the grand manner, but some of the hauteur was a protection against society’s expectations of Black women. She was also generous and kind to younger singers coming up.
“I think that everything that has happened to me was meant to be,” she told Post-Dispatch writer Cleora Hughes in 1996. “God has given me this wonderful talent, and why should I not enjoy it? Not to do so would be a sin, actually. Being given a talent is a great responsibility. It’s not just about making beautiful noises. It is also a duty.”
According to a statement by Bumbry’s adoptive son, David Lee Brewer, her remains will be buried in St. Louis.
Calvin Wilson of the Post-Dispatch contributed to this report.
Who's who on the St. Louis Walk of Fame
Musicians and a TV personality
• Ronald Isley and Ernie Isley, of the Isley Brothers, known for hits including "Shout," "That Lady" and more. The group is in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. (2019 inductees)
• Andy Cohen, TV producer, host of "Watch What Happens Live With Andy Cohen" and author. (2023 inductee)
Sculptor, dressmaker, baseball player
• Harry Weber's bronze statues of notable people decorate St. Louis and include the one commemorating Dred and Harriet Scott outside the Old Courthouse. (2023 inductee)
• Elizabeth Keckley was an enslaved woman who purchased her freedom in 1855 in St. Louis, and moved to Washington, D.C., where she had a dressmaking business. Her clients included Mary Todd Lincoln. Her memoir was published in 1868. (2019 inductee)
• Elston Howard, a graduate of Vashon, signed with the Kansas City Monarchs in 1948, then with the New York Yankees in 1955 as that team's first Black player. (2021 inductee)
Nobel Prize winner, suffragette, filmmaker
• Edward A. Doisy won the Nobel Prize in Physiology and Medicine in 1943 for his work on Vitamin K. An injection of that vitamin is now standard for all newborns to help avoid bleeding issues. Doisy taught at Washington University and St. Louis University. (2021 inductee)
• Edna Gellhorn was a woman's suffrage movement leader who organized the 1916 "Golden Lane" demonstration outside the Democratic National Convention in St. Louis. She also helped found the National League of Women Voters. (2021 inductee)
• Henry Hampton was a film producer and filmmaker who made "Eyes on the Prize I and II," a documentary series about the Civil Rights movement, among other works. (2019 inductee)
Poet, boxer, dancer
• Maya Angelou, a poet, author and actress, was born and briefly lived in St. Louis.
• Henry Armstrong was the only boxer who had world titles in three weight classes at the same time.
• Josephine Baker, a singer and dancer, rarely returned to St. Louis to perform; when she did in 1952, she said she "ran away" from the city because of the "terror of discrimination."
Actor, singer, guitarist
• Scott Bakula has acted in "Quantum Leap and "Star Trek: Enterprise," among many other roles.
• Fontella Bass was a gospel and R&B singer whose biggest hit was "Rescue Me."
• Mel Bay was a guitar player who wrote books to teach people how to play the instrument.
Baseball player, politician, baseball player
• James "Cool Papa" Bell was a player with the St. Louis Stars, a team in the Negro Leagues.
• Thomas Hart Benton was a politician and U.S. senator for Missouri.
• Yogi Berra, besides being a very quotable person, was a catcher for the New York Yankees.
Musician, educator, singer
• Chuck Berry was a ground-breaking rock 'n' roll musician.
• Susan Blow introduced the first successful public kindergarten in a small school in Carondelet in 1873.
• Christine Brewer is an opera singer.
Baseball player, educator, sports announcer
• Lou Brock holds the National League record for stolen bases at 938.
• Robert S. Brookings was president of the board of Washington University and founded the Brookings Institution.
• Jack Buck was the voice of the Cardinals.
Singer, musician, author
• Grace Bumbry is an opera singer.
• T. Bone Burnett is a producer and musician; he produced the soundtrack for the movie "O Brother, Where Art Thou?"
• William S. Burroughs was an author who wrote "Naked Lunch" and was a member of the "Beat Generation."
Sports announcer, author, founder
• Harry Caray was a broadcaster for the Cardinals, but is probably better known for his work with the Cubs.
• Kate Chopin was an author whose books include "The Awakening."
• Auguste Chouteau was one of the founders of St. Louis.
Explorer, politician, environmentalist
• William Clark was co-leader of the Lewis and Clark Expedition to explore the Louisiana Purhcase. He was also the federal Indian agent in St. Louis and is buried in Bellefontaine Cemetery.
• William L. "Bill" Clay is a former U.S. Representative whose son is William Lacy Clay. The senior Clay was first elected in 1968; the formal name of the Poplar Street Bridge is the Congressman William L. Clay Sr. Bridge.
• Barry Commoner was a scientist and environmentalist; he taught at Washington University.
Nobel Prize-winner, tennis player, Nobel Prize winners
• Arthur Holly Compton won the Nobel Prize in physics in 1927 for his discovery of the Compton effect; he was also chancellor of Washington University.
• Jimmy Connors is a tennis champion who holds 109 titles.
• Gerty and Carl Cori won the Nobel Prize in physiology or medicine in 1947 for work showing how glycogen is used by the body.
Broadcaster, politician, educator
• Bob Costas is a sports broadcaster.
• John Danforth is a politician who was U.S. Senator and is a leader in the Republican Party.
• William Danforth, a medical doctor, was chancellor of Washington University for 24 years.
John and William Danforth, brothers, are grandsons of the founder of Ralston-Purina. Their family foundation funded $1.25 billion in projects over 84 years; the final gift was for the Donald Danforth Plant Science Center.
Tennis player, musician, baseball player
• Dwight Davis was a tennis player who founded the competition now known as the Davis Cup. He was also secretary of war for Herbert Hoover.
• Miles Davis was a legendary jazz trumpeter.
• Dizzy Dean is a baseball Hall of Famer who won 30 games in the 1934 season with the St. Louis Cardinals.
Football player, comedian, saint
• Dan Dierdorf was a right tackle for the St. Louis Cardinals in the 1970s.
• Phyllis Diller was a groundbreaking comedian whose career began in 1955.
• Rose Philippine Duchesne, a saint, was a member of the Society of the Sacred Heart of Jesus and founded the order's first convent, and a school, in St. Charles in 1818.
Dancer, actor, engineer
• Katherine Dunham was a modern dancer who had her own dance company, and opened an arts center in East St. Louis to teach dance, language, cultural history and anthropology.
• Robert Duvall is an actor who was in "The Godfather" and "The Godfather: Part II," among other films.
• James B. Eads designed the Eads Bridge and, in Carondelet during the Civil War, built armored gunboats for the Union.
Politician, designer, author
• Thomas Eagleton was a U.S. senator who was briefly a candidate for vice president on George McGovern's 1972 campaign. Eagleton withdrew because he previously received treatment for depression.
• Charles Eames was a designer now best known for his chairs.
• Gerald Early is an author and was chairman of the African and African-American Studies Department at Washington University.
Actor, poet, educator
• Buddy Ebsen was an actor who played Jed Camplett in "The Beverly Hillbillies."
• T.S. Eliot was a poet who wrote, among other work, "The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock."
• William Greenleaf Eliot (grandfather of T.S. Eliot), a Unitarian minister, founded Washington University.
Author, artist, photographer
• Stanley Elkin was an author who won the National Book Critics Circle Award twice.
• Mary Engelbreit is an artist known for detailed, colorful work.
• Walker Evans was a photographer who worked during the Great Depression.
Comic strip artist, poet and pop group
• Lee Falk created the comic strips "The Phantom" and "Mandrake the Magician" in the 1930s. He was also a playwright and director/producer.
• Eugene Field was a writer and poet whose home is now a toy museum. he wrote "Wynken, Blynken, and Nod," among other poems.
• The Fifth Dimension is a pop group; the original members were Billy Davis Jr., Florence La Rue, Marilyn McCoo, Lamonte McLemore and Ronald Townson.
Baseball player, comedian, politician
• Curt Flood was a Cardinals player who challenged baseball's reserve clause, paving the way for free agency.
• Redd Foxx was a comedian who starred on "Sanford and Son."
• David Francis was mayor of St. Louis, then the state's governor and president of the 1904 World's Fair.
Activist, baseball player, journalist
• Frankie Muse Freeman was a lawyer and civil rights leader.
• Joe Garagiola was a catcher with the Cardinals and other teams; he and Yogi Berra grew up together in the Hill neighborhood.
• Dave Garroway was the first anchor of NBC's "Today."
Author, author, baseball player
• William Gass was an author who wrote, among other work, "Omensetter’s Luck."
• Martha Gellhorn was a war correspondent and author. She was also Ernest Hemingway's third wife.
• Bob Gibson pitched for the St. Louis Cardinals; his dominance changed the rules of baseball.
Actor, actress, surgeon
• John Goodman is an actor and comedian who has been in several movies and TV shows, including "Roseanne."
• Betty Grable was an actress and the No. 1 pin-up girl during World War II.
• Evarts Graham was the chair of the Department of Surgery at Washington University; he was the first surgeon to successfully remove an entire lung.
President, comedian, director
• Ulysses S. Grant was a general who led the Union Army during the Civil War and the 18th U.S. president.
• Dick Gregory was a comedian and civil rights activist.
• Charles Guggenheim was a producer and director whose work includes "Monument to the Dream," about the building of the Arch.
Actor, 'Monuments Man,' musician
• Robert Guillaume was an actor perhaps best known as Benson on "Soap" and "Benson."
• Walker Hancock was a sculptor and one of the "Monuments Men" who saved works of art from the Nazis.
• John Hartford was a bluegrass musician.
Musician, manager, artist
• Donny Hathaway was a jazz, blues, soul and gospel musician whose work includes "This Christmas."
• Whitey Herzog managed the Cardinals for 17 seasons and is in the baseball Hall of Fame.
• Albert Hirschfeld was an artist whose unique style is almost synonymous with Broadway.
Actor, baseball player, author
• William Holden is an actor who was in "Stalag 17," "Sunset Boulevard" and "Network," among other work.
• Rogers Hornsby was a shortstop for the St. Louis Cardinals, and is a baseball Hall of Famer.
• A.E. Hotchner is a screenwriter and author who co-founded Newman's Own.
Playwright, golfer, architect
• William Inge was a playwright who wrote "Picnic" (a Pulitzer Prize-winner) and other works.
• Hale Irwin is a pro golfer who has 45 wins on the Champions Tour.
• William B. Ittner was an architect whose work includes several school buildings in St. Louis City and the Scottish Rite Cathedral and Missouri Athletic Club building.
Musician, researchers
• Johnnie Johnson was a Blues pianist who played with Chuck Berry.
• Virginia Eshelman Johnson and William H. Masters researched sexual relations and opened the Masters and Johnson Institute.
Musician, athlete, musician
• Scott Joplin was a pianist who composed ragtime songs, including the "Maple Leaf Rag" and "The Entertainer."
• Jackie Joyner-Kersee is a track and field athlete who won three Olympic gold medals, a silver and two bronze in the 1984, 1988, 1992 and 1996 Olympics.
• Albert King was a Blues guitarist and singer.
Actor, comedian, founder
• Kevin Kline is an actor who has performed in "The Big Chill," "A Fish Called Wanda" (Oscar winner for supporting-actor) and other work.
• Cedric "The Entertainer" Kyles is a comedian who has been on a variety of TV shows and movies.
• Pierre Laclede was one of the founders of St. Louis.
Producer, scientist, aviator
• Rocco Landesman is a Broadway producer and was chair of the National Endowment for the Arts.
• Rita Levi-Montalcini won a Nobel Prize in medicine for her work at Washington University studying nerve growth and tumor cells.
• Charles Lindbergh was the first person to fly non-stop across the Atlantic, in a plane called the "Spirit of St. Louis" because St. Louis businessmen helped him fund the flight. He later argued for non-intervention in World War II and was an "America First" leader.
Architect, abolitionist, basketball player
• Theodore Link was an architect who designed buildings for the 1904 World's Fair and the St. Louis Union Station.
• Elijah Lovejoy was killed in 1837 in Alton by a mob seeking to destroy his newspaper press. He was editor of the St. Louis Observer (later relocated to Alton), an anti-slavery paper.
• Ed Macauley was a St. Louis University basketball star who played for 10 years in the NBA and is in the Basketball Hall of Fame.
Actress, cartoonist, actress
• Marsha Mason is an actress who was nominated four times for an Oscar for best actress.
• Bill Mauldin was a cartoonist who won two Pulitzer Prizes and created "Willie and Joe," infantrymen who commented on the hardships of war.
• Virginia Mayo was an actress who was in "The Best Years of Our Lives" and other work.
Baseball player, singer, singer
• Tim McCarver is a baseball announcer and was a catcher for the Cardinals.
• Michael McDonald is a singer who has been a member of Steely Dan and the Doobie Brothers, as well as a solo artist.
• Robert McFerrin Sr. was an opera singer who was the first black man to sing at the Metropolitan Opera.
Producer, boxer, poet
• David Merrick was a Broadway producer.
• Archie Moore was a boxer who is the only fighter who boxed Rocky Marciano and Muhammad Ali.
• Marianne Moore was a poet who won the Pulitzer Prize.
Actress, baseball player, rapper
• Agnes Moorehead was an actress who played Endora on "Bewitched," among other roles.
• Stan Musial was "The Man," a Cardinals player and baseball Hall of Famer.
• Nelly is a rapper whose songs include "Hot in Herre."
Poet, pilot, architect
• Howard Nemerov was twice the U.S. poet laureate, and received the Pulitzer Prize in poetry.
• Edward H. "Butch" O'Hare was a fighter pilot who received the Medal of Honor in 1942. He died in 1943 when he was shot down over the Pacific.
• Gyo Obata was an architect who co-founded HOK. He designed the Thomas F. Eagleton Courthouse and the National Air and Space Museum in Washington, D.C.
Zoo director, cartoonist, basketball player
• Marlin Perkins was the director of the St. Louis Zoo, and hosted "Mutual of Omaha's Wild Kingdom" from 1962 to 1985.
• Mike Peters is the cartoonist who created "Mother Goose and Grimm."
• Bob Pettit was an NBA player who led the St. Louis Hawks to an NBA title in 1958.
Actor, publisher, director
• Vincent Price is the face of horror films (and the voice in "Thriller").
• Joseph Pulitzer founded the Post-Dispatch in 1878 and went on to a storied career in journalism. Circulation battles with William Randolph Hearst led to "yellow journalism," and his legacy established the Pulitzer Prizes.
• Harold Ramis went to college in St. Louis and went on to write "Animal House." His credits include "Groundhog Day" and "Ghostbusters."
Golfer, botanist, priest
• Judy Rankin became a pro golfer at 17 in 1962, and was two-time LPGA player of the year.
• Peter Raven was the director of the Missouri Botanical Garden.
• Paul C. Reinert, a Jesuit priest, was the president of St. Louis University for 25 years and worked to desegregate the university.
Baseball player, dance troupe, cookbook author
• Branch Rickey was a baseball player and manager for the St. Louis Browns and Cardinals. As manager for the Brooklyn Dodgers, he signed Jackie Robinson as the first black player in MLB.
• The Missouri Rockets (image is from a 1920s newspaper advertisement) became the world-famous Radio City Rockettes.
• Irma Rombauer self-published "The Joy of Cooking" in 1931; it is still in print.
Painter, musician, baseball player
• Charles M. Russell was a painter known for his work picturing cowboys, Native Americans and western landscapes.
• David Sanborn is a jazz musician.
• Red Schoendienst is a baseball Hall of Famer and a former Cardinals player.
Activists, playwright, botanist
• Dred and Harriet Scott were slaves; Dred Scott's suit for his freedom led to a Supreme Court decision that helped set up the Civil War.
• Ntozake Shange is a playwright and poet who wrote "for colored girls who have considered suicide / when the rainbow is enuf."
• Henry Shaw was a merchant with an interest in botany whose legacy includes the Missouri Botanical Garden.
General, baseball player, conductor
• William Tecumseh Sherman was a general who captured Atlanta and led a destructive march to the coast that helped end the Civil War.
• George Sisler was a baseball player with the St. Louis Browns and is in the Hall of Fame.
• Leonard Slatkin was the music director of the St. Louis Symphony Orchestra.
Football player, baseball player, gospel singer
• Jackie Smith was a tight end with the St. Louis Cardinals (football team).
• Ozzie Smith, "The Wizard," was a Cardinals shortstop and is in the baseball Hall of Fame.
• Willie Mae Ford Smith was a gospel singer.
Activist, poet, musician
• Max Starkloff was an activist who worked for people who used wheelchairs or had other disabilities. He founded Paraquad.
• Sara Teasdale won the Pulitzer Prize for "Love Songs."
• Clark Terry was a jazz trumpet player.
Author, musician, singer
• Kay Thompson was an actress and author of the children's books about Eloise.
• Henry "Mule" Townsend was a Blues musician; he is considered the father of St. Louis blues.
• Helen Traubel was an opera singer.
Sculptor, musician, musician
• Ernest Trova was a sculptor whose donation helped start the Laumeier Sculpture Park.
• Ike Turner was a musician who led the Ike and Tina Turner Revue. He is a member of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.
• Tina Turner began her career with Ike Turner, but left him due to domestic abuse. She has won 12 Grammy awards and is a member of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.
Poet, bowler, actress
• Mona Van Duyn was a poet who won the Pulitzer Prize for "Near Changes."
• Dick Weber was a pro-bowler who was a member of the team that rolled a 3,858 series, a record that stood until 1994.
• Mary Wickes was an actress who starred in "White Christmas," "The Trouble with Angels" and "Sister Act."
Playwright, painter, actress
• Tennessee Williams was a playwright who famously hated St. Louis, but is buried here anyway. His work includes "The Glass Menagerie."
• Carl Wimar was a frontier painter who painted murals in the Old Courthouse.
• Shelley Winters was an actress who starred in "Night of the Hunter" and "A Place in the Sun."
Politician, cartoonist, author
• Harriett Woods was a politician who lost the 1982 Senate race; the founder of Emily's List drew inspiration from that loss. She was the first woman elected to statewide office, and served as lieutenant governor.
• Chic Young was a cartoonist who drew "Blondie."
• 2018 inductee: Ridley Pearson is an author whose work includes the "The Kingdom Keepers" series.
Take a look at some of the video highlights of 2022 from the St. Louis Post-Dispatch staff.
