Barbara Smith Conrad was an American operatic mezzo-soprano of international acclaim.
Barbara Smith Conrad had a distinguished career in Opera spanning many decades and three continents. Those close to Barbara would say she was one of the most inclusive people who ever walked this planet, with a heart the size of Texas. She was born in West, Texas, a tiny town in the north-central part of Texas, in 1937, the youngest of five. Her parents were loving but strict in regard to their children’s school careers, writing, good grammar and speech, and general comportment, and they encouraged all their children to pursue music. Ms. Conrad’s brother Denard was an extraordinarily gifted concert pianist. Barbara and Denard performed many concerts together, and of him she would say, “My brother Denard was a true musical genius. He could play anything on piano in any key. He taught me so much about music. He taught me Beethoven’s ‘Mount of Olives’ aria in one night.” Denard’s early death of AIDs was devastating to her and she treasured his piano as one of her most prized possessions.
Ms. Conrad was one of the “Precursors”; the first black students to attend The University of Texas at Austin. She and her fellow black classmates received death threats and lived under a cloud of tension at the school.
When she was cast opposite a blonde, white young man in the opera Dido and Aeneas, Ms. Conrad was almost immediately removed from the production by the dean of the school. Instantly, Ms. Conrad was thrust even deeper into the spotlight of the civil rights movement than her mere attendance at UT had catalyzed. “I felt so trapped,” Ms. Conrad recalled. “I wanted to just say everything that came into my mind, but I was trying to be that person who was a healer. That was part of the upbringing. You tried to make peace and not war.” Those who knew her well throughout her life noted that she never permitted her role in the civil rights movement be something that defined her. Rather, Ms. Conrad simply lived by example; warmly respecting the dignity of every person she met.
When celebrity Harry Belafonte heard of her plight at school through the national attention the story received, he offered to bring her to New York City. Ms. Conrad accepted (only after she completed her studies and got her degree) and demonstrated a dignity and grace both on and off the stage that would become her personal style. Her experiences at UT imprinted strongly on her, and throughout her life, Ms. Conrad worked to see an end to racism in any form.
Ms. Conrad performed with New York’s Metropolitan Opera for eight years from 1982 to 1989, as well as lead roles at the Vienna State Opera, the Teatro Nacional de Venezuela, the Houston Grand Opera, the New York City Opera, the Pittsburgh Opera and many others opera houses. Under the direction of some of the world’s leading conductors, she performed much of the mezzo-soprano repertoire with the world’s greatest orchestras including the New York Philharmonic and the London, Boston, Cleveland and Detroit symphonies. The UT Austin Ex-Students’ Association named Ms. Conrad a Distinguished Alumna in 1985, and the university honored her with the founding of the Barbara Smith Conrad Endowed Presidential Scholarship in Fine Arts.
Ms. Conrad received the Texas Medal of Arts Award for Lifetime Achievement and the History-Making Texan Award in 2011. She was appointed to the Butler School of Music as a visiting professor and artist-in-residence in 2012, and she spoke at the commencement ceremony for the College of Fine Arts that year. The University of Texas worked tirelessly to produce a film on Ms. Conrad’s life, “When I Rise,” which was received with critical acclaim.
Ms. Conrad died of Alzheimer’s disease in the early hours of Monday morning, May 22, 2017 and she will long be missed by her many adoring students and fans.
Barbara Smith Conrad had a distinguished career in Opera spanning many decades and three continents. Those close to Barbara would say she was one of the most inclusive people who ever walked this planet, with a heart the size of Texas. She was born in West, Texas, a tiny town in the north-central part of Texas, in 1937, the youngest of five. Her parents were loving but strict in regard to their children’s school careers, writing, good grammar and speech, and general comportment, and they encouraged all their children to pursue music. Ms. Conrad’s brother Denard was an extraordinarily gifted concert pianist. Barbara and Denard performed many concerts together, and of him she would say, “My brother Denard was a true musical genius. He could play anything on piano in any key. He taught me so much about music. He taught me Beethoven’s ‘Mount of Olives’ aria in one night.” Denard’s early death of AIDs was devastating to her and she treasured his piano as one of her most prized possessions.
Ms. Conrad was one of the “Precursors”; the first black students to attend The University of Texas at Austin. She and her fellow black classmates received death threats and lived under a cloud of tension at the school.
When she was cast opposite a blonde, white young man in the opera Dido and Aeneas, Ms. Conrad was almost immediately removed from the production by the dean of the school. Instantly, Ms. Conrad was thrust even deeper into the spotlight of the civil rights movement than her mere attendance at UT had catalyzed. “I felt so trapped,” Ms. Conrad recalled. “I wanted to just say everything that came into my mind, but I was trying to be that person who was a healer. That was part of the upbringing. You tried to make peace and not war.” Those who knew her well throughout her life noted that she never permitted her role in the civil rights movement be something that defined her. Rather, Ms. Conrad simply lived by example; warmly respecting the dignity of every person she met.
When celebrity Harry Belafonte heard of her plight at school through the national attention the story received, he offered to bring her to New York City. Ms. Conrad accepted (only after she completed her studies and got her degree) and demonstrated a dignity and grace both on and off the stage that would become her personal style. Her experiences at UT imprinted strongly on her, and throughout her life, Ms. Conrad worked to see an end to racism in any form.
Ms. Conrad performed with New York’s Metropolitan Opera for eight years from 1982 to 1989, as well as lead roles at the Vienna State Opera, the Teatro Nacional de Venezuela, the Houston Grand Opera, the New York City Opera, the Pittsburgh Opera and many others opera houses. Under the direction of some of the world’s leading conductors, she performed much of the mezzo-soprano repertoire with the world’s greatest orchestras including the New York Philharmonic and the London, Boston, Cleveland and Detroit symphonies. The UT Austin Ex-Students’ Association named Ms. Conrad a Distinguished Alumna in 1985, and the university honored her with the founding of the Barbara Smith Conrad Endowed Presidential Scholarship in Fine Arts.
Ms. Conrad received the Texas Medal of Arts Award for Lifetime Achievement and the History-Making Texan Award in 2011. She was appointed to the Butler School of Music as a visiting professor and artist-in-residence in 2012, and she spoke at the commencement ceremony for the College of Fine Arts that year. The University of Texas worked tirelessly to produce a film on Ms. Conrad’s life, “When I Rise,” which was received with critical acclaim.
Ms. Conrad died of Alzheimer’s disease in the early hours of Monday morning, May 22, 2017 and she will long be missed by her many adoring students and fans.
Barbara Smith Conrad was an American operatic mezzo-soprano of international acclaim.
Barbara Smith Conrad had a distinguished career in Opera spanning many decades and three continents. Those close to Barbara would say she was one of the most inclusive people who ever walked this planet, with a heart the size of Texas. She was born in West, Texas, a tiny town in the north-central part of Texas, in 1937, the youngest of five. Her parents were loving but strict in regard to their children’s school careers, writing, good grammar and speech, and general comportment, and they encouraged all their children to pursue music. Ms. Conrad’s brother Denard was an extraordinarily gifted concert pianist. Barbara and Denard performed many concerts together, and of him she would say, “My brother Denard was a true musical genius. He could play anything on piano in any key. He taught me so much about music. He taught me Beethoven’s ‘Mount of Olives’ aria in one night.” Denard’s early death of AIDs was devastating to her and she treasured his piano as one of her most prized possessions.
Ms. Conrad was one of the “Precursors”; the first black students to attend The University of Texas at Austin. She and her fellow black classmates received death threats and lived under a cloud of tension at the school.
When she was cast opposite a blonde, white young man in the opera Dido and Aeneas, Ms. Conrad was almost immediately removed from the production by the dean of the school. Instantly, Ms. Conrad was thrust even deeper into the spotlight of the civil rights movement than her mere attendance at UT had catalyzed. “I felt so trapped,” Ms. Conrad recalled. “I wanted to just say everything that came into my mind, but I was trying to be that person who was a healer. That was part of the upbringing. You tried to make peace and not war.” Those who knew her well throughout her life noted that she never permitted her role in the civil rights movement be something that defined her. Rather, Ms. Conrad simply lived by example; warmly respecting the dignity of every person she met.
When celebrity Harry Belafonte heard of her plight at school through the national attention the story received, he offered to bring her to New York City. Ms. Conrad accepted (only after she completed her studies and got her degree) and demonstrated a dignity and grace both on and off the stage that would become her personal style. Her experiences at UT imprinted strongly on her, and throughout her life, Ms. Conrad worked to see an end to racism in any form.
Ms. Conrad performed with New York’s Metropolitan Opera for eight years from 1982 to 1989, as well as lead roles at the Vienna State Opera, the Teatro Nacional de Venezuela, the Houston Grand Opera, the New York City Opera, the Pittsburgh Opera and many others opera houses. Under the direction of some of the world’s leading conductors, she performed much of the mezzo-soprano repertoire with the world’s greatest orchestras including the New York Philharmonic and the London, Boston, Cleveland and Detroit symphonies. The UT Austin Ex-Students’ Association named Ms. Conrad a Distinguished Alumna in 1985, and the university honored her with the founding of the Barbara Smith Conrad Endowed Presidential Scholarship in Fine Arts.
Ms. Conrad received the Texas Medal of Arts Award for Lifetime Achievement and the History-Making Texan Award in 2011. She was appointed to the Butler School of Music as a visiting professor and artist-in-residence in 2012, and she spoke at the commencement ceremony for the College of Fine Arts that year. The University of Texas worked tirelessly to produce a film on Ms. Conrad’s life, “When I Rise,” which was received with critical acclaim.
Ms. Conrad died of Alzheimer’s disease in the early hours of Monday morning, May 22, 2017 and she will long be missed by her many adoring students and fans.
Barbara Smith Conrad had a distinguished career in Opera spanning many decades and three continents. Those close to Barbara would say she was one of the most inclusive people who ever walked this planet, with a heart the size of Texas. She was born in West, Texas, a tiny town in the north-central part of Texas, in 1937, the youngest of five. Her parents were loving but strict in regard to their children’s school careers, writing, good grammar and speech, and general comportment, and they encouraged all their children to pursue music. Ms. Conrad’s brother Denard was an extraordinarily gifted concert pianist. Barbara and Denard performed many concerts together, and of him she would say, “My brother Denard was a true musical genius. He could play anything on piano in any key. He taught me so much about music. He taught me Beethoven’s ‘Mount of Olives’ aria in one night.” Denard’s early death of AIDs was devastating to her and she treasured his piano as one of her most prized possessions.
Ms. Conrad was one of the “Precursors”; the first black students to attend The University of Texas at Austin. She and her fellow black classmates received death threats and lived under a cloud of tension at the school.
When she was cast opposite a blonde, white young man in the opera Dido and Aeneas, Ms. Conrad was almost immediately removed from the production by the dean of the school. Instantly, Ms. Conrad was thrust even deeper into the spotlight of the civil rights movement than her mere attendance at UT had catalyzed. “I felt so trapped,” Ms. Conrad recalled. “I wanted to just say everything that came into my mind, but I was trying to be that person who was a healer. That was part of the upbringing. You tried to make peace and not war.” Those who knew her well throughout her life noted that she never permitted her role in the civil rights movement be something that defined her. Rather, Ms. Conrad simply lived by example; warmly respecting the dignity of every person she met.
When celebrity Harry Belafonte heard of her plight at school through the national attention the story received, he offered to bring her to New York City. Ms. Conrad accepted (only after she completed her studies and got her degree) and demonstrated a dignity and grace both on and off the stage that would become her personal style. Her experiences at UT imprinted strongly on her, and throughout her life, Ms. Conrad worked to see an end to racism in any form.
Ms. Conrad performed with New York’s Metropolitan Opera for eight years from 1982 to 1989, as well as lead roles at the Vienna State Opera, the Teatro Nacional de Venezuela, the Houston Grand Opera, the New York City Opera, the Pittsburgh Opera and many others opera houses. Under the direction of some of the world’s leading conductors, she performed much of the mezzo-soprano repertoire with the world’s greatest orchestras including the New York Philharmonic and the London, Boston, Cleveland and Detroit symphonies. The UT Austin Ex-Students’ Association named Ms. Conrad a Distinguished Alumna in 1985, and the university honored her with the founding of the Barbara Smith Conrad Endowed Presidential Scholarship in Fine Arts.
Ms. Conrad received the Texas Medal of Arts Award for Lifetime Achievement and the History-Making Texan Award in 2011. She was appointed to the Butler School of Music as a visiting professor and artist-in-residence in 2012, and she spoke at the commencement ceremony for the College of Fine Arts that year. The University of Texas worked tirelessly to produce a film on Ms. Conrad’s life, “When I Rise,” which was received with critical acclaim.
Ms. Conrad died of Alzheimer’s disease in the early hours of Monday morning, May 22, 2017 and she will long be missed by her many adoring students and fans.
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Famed operatic mezzo-soprano, educator, civil rights pioneer, and humanitarian who touched the lives of audiences around the world.
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