George Shirley

George Irving Shirley (born April 18, 1934) is an American operatic tenor, and was the first African-American tenor to perform a leading role at the Metropolitan Opera.

Shirley was born in Indianapolis, Indiana, and raised in Detroit, Michigan. He earned a bachelor's degree in music education from Wayne State University in 1955 and then was drafted into the Army, where he became the first black member of the United States Army Chorus. He was also the first African American hired to teach music in Detroit high schools.

After continuing voice studies with Therny Georgi, he moved to New York and began his professional career as a singer. His debut was with a small opera group in as Eisenstein in Strauss's Die Fledermaus in 1959, and his European debut in Italy as Rodolfo in Puccini's La Bohème. In 1960, at 26, he won a National Arts Club scholarship competition, and the following April he was the first Black singer to win the Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions scholarship competition. Shirley is the first Black tenor and the second Black male to sing leading roles for the Metropolitan Opera. He sang there for 11 seasons.

Shirley has also appeared at the Royal Opera, London; the Deutsche Oper in Berlin; the Teatro Colón in Buenos Aires; the Netherlands Opera in Amsterdam; Opéra de Monte-Carlo; the New York City Opera; the Scottish Opera; the Chicago Lyric Opera; the Washington Opera; the Michigan Opera Theatre; the San Francisco Opera; and the Santa Fe Opera and Glyndebourne Festival summer seasons, as well as with numerous orchestras in the United States and Europe. He has sung more than 80 roles.

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