Sigma Alpha Iota

sai-national.org • WINTER 2016 • PAN PIPES 11 C D E H I J K M N O P R S T U W X Y Z Honorary Member Mattiwil- da Dobbs Janzon, an internation- ally acclaimed coloratura soprano and former principal singer with the Metropolitan Opera, died at her home in Atlanta on December 8, 2015 at the age of 90. She was initiated into SAI in 1974 by the Beta Xi Chapter in Austin, TX, where Ms. Dobbs was serving as a Visiting Associate Professor of Voice at the University of Texas. SAI Member Laureate Joyce Johnson shares memories of her friend and colleague: Named for her grandmother, Mattie Wilda Sykes, Mattiwilda Dobbs Janzon was loved and known by family and close friends as "Geekie." A native of Atlanta, GA, and one of six Dobbs daughters, Mattiwilda Dobbs entered Spelman College with an interest in Home Economics and Fashion Design. However, she was immersed in music early in her life and was discovered to have a beautiful singing voice. With strong encouragement from both family and musicians at Spelman, she studied music and graduated in 1946 with a Bachelor of Arts degree in Spanish and Music. She earned a Master Degree in Spanish from Columbia University Teachers College while, at the same time, studying with the distinguished German soprano, Madam Lotte Leonard in New York City. Aer winning several awards, she moved to Paris, studied the art song with the legendary Pierre Bernac, and began successful concert tours in Europe. Subsequently, debuts at La Scala in Milan, the Royal Opera House in London, opera houses in Hamburg, Stockholm, Paris, Vienna, and others -- all brought international acclaim to Ms. Dobbs and ultimately led her to celebrated opera houses and recital halls in America. ese included the Town Hall in New York, the San Francisco Opera, and the Metropolitan Opera where she made her debut as Gilda in Rigoletto in 1956. She had a long-term contract at the Met where she performed 29 times through 1964. Rigoletto, Don Giovanni, Le Coq d'Or, e Pearl Fishers, and e Tales of Hoffmann were some of the many operas in which she performed. Aer leaving the opera, Ms. Dobbs continued her musical activity as a recitalist and college professor of voice. She held a long-term appointment at Howard University and was Artist-in-Residence at universities in Illinois, Texas, Georgia, and at Spelman College from which she received an honorary Doctor of Fine Arts degree in 1979. In 1980, Emory University awarded her an honorary Doctor of Music degree. During these years she gave many recitals at colleges and universities including historically black institutions. She was oen invited to adjudicate competitions, give masterclasses, and serve on important boards and panels, including that of the Metropolitan Opera and the National Endowment for the Arts Solo Recital Panel. Mattiwilda Dobbs Janzon was my friend for more than four decades…a friendship that began aer her stint with the Metropolitan Opera and her world-wide travels to opera houses around the world; a friendship that began when I became one of her accompanists for her solo recitals, mainly in this country and on college campuses, largely in the southeast. What JOY traveling with her, and having the opportunity to collaborate and make music with a consummate artist — a magnificent coloratura with a wide repertoire of operatic arias, art songs, spirituals, and elaborate folk songs. What JOY and INSPIRATION just to know her! Apart from her beautiful singing, I will remember her as vivacious, graceful, demure, quiet, kind, sensitive, elegant, highly intellectual, well-read, a great conversationalist, witty, jovial, always caring, always encouraging to young artists, unpretentious, strong in her convictions, and ethical always. A courageous pioneer, she hewed the pathway for many African American opera singers who came aer her — Leontyne Price, Shirley Verrett, Camilla Williams, Jessye Norman, Kathleen Battle, Martina Arroyo, Grace Bumbry, Florence Quivar, Barbara Hendricks, and Reri Grist. She set the bar of excellence very high, and we are all the better for it. SHE WILL LIVE ON FOREVER IN OUR HEARTS…DEAR, DEAR GEEKIE, Honorary Member of Sigma Alpha Iota. Her SAI Sister, Joyce F. Johnson Professor Emerita and College Organist Spelman College, Atlanta, Georgia Remembering Soprano Mattiwilda Dobbs Detroit Public Library, E. Azalia Hackley Collection Portrait of soprano Mattiwilda Dobbs. TO SEE A FULL PROGRAM performed at Spelman College in 1988 by Ms. Dobbs and Dr. Johnson, visit youtube.com/watch?v=JAGDAkdSD9E GRACE NOTE

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