Lillian Evans

Lillian Evanti
Lillian Evanti in France in 1926
Background information
Birth name	Annie Wilson Lillian Evans
Born	(1890-08-12)August 12, 1890 Washington, D.C.
Died	December 6, 1967(1967-12-06) (aged 77)
Occupation(s)	Opera Singer
Instruments	Soprano
Years active	1925–1945

Lillian Evanti (August 12, 1890 – December 6, 1967), was an African-American opera singer.

She was born in Washington, D.C., and graduated from Armstrong Manual Training School, where her father, W. Bruce Evans, was the first principal. Her paternal grandfather, Henry Evans was born in North Carolina as a free black man and later moved to Oberlin, Ohio where he helped with the Underground Railroad. Evanti’s maternal grandfather John H. Brooks was elected to the House of Delegates in 1874 and defeated Frederick Douglas Jr. Although gifted in music, in 1908 Lillian entered Miner Teachers College for the education of black elementary school teachers. In her time there she met Georgia Douglas Johnson, a future poet and literary figure that Evanti would later consult with in writing songs.

She graduated from Howard University in with a Bachelor's Degree in music. At her commencement in May 1917 she sang French, German, English as well as American songs that brought her national attention by the black press such as the New York Age (being a woman of color, she was not discovered by white media for over a decade after this performance). With the support from her husband, Lillian set sail for Paris in 1924 to begin her operatic journey. In an effort to sound more European she combined her maiden name “Evans” and her married name “Tibbs” to create her new stage name Evanti. As an African American classical singer in America, there was little success for her outside of the black community and she hoped that in France she would finally find her voice. In Paris, Lillian studied voice with French soprano Rita Ciampi and within the year moved to Nice where her instructor advised her to audition at the local opera houses. Evanti, a soprano, sang at the Belasco Theater in 1926 with Marian Anderson. She debuted in 1925 in Delibes's Lakmé at Nice, France. Although she was receiving praise in Europe, only black newspapers were picking up her success in America. In an article by The Chicago Defender (national edition) on Sept 26,1925, Evanti goes into detail about the unknown color prejudice she experienced in France after her debut. “Distinguished Parisians understand us “ says Madame Evanti “there is no such thing as color prejudice, especially among the upper classes.” The article then goes into a story of her making her first public appearance in a joint recital with a violinist at the home of the distinguished Salmon family “ I feel that Mme.Salmon understands very thoroughly the race question in America. She has made a special study of it and is very much interested in the general progress of the Negro.”