Jean Dickenson (born ) is an American former singer.

Early life

Born in Montreal, Dickenson was the daughter of mining engineer Ernest Heathcote Dickenson and novelist May Dickenson. Her father's work took him to several countries, with the family living in the Philippines, India, Europe, and South Africa before settling in Denver, Colorado, when Dickenson was 14 years old. There she began taking singing lessons after having previously studied piano. She graduated from the

Lamont School of Music Lamont School of Music is the school of arts of the University of Denver, based in city of Denver, United States. In 1941, the school merged with the University of Denver. History Despite its separation from Denver University's main campus for m ...

after gaining her primary education in New York City and her secondary education in San Francisco. While Dickenson was a student at Lamont, she won a national singing contest from a group of 200 sopranos.

Career

During her final year at Lamont, Dickenson was featured on the

NBC The National Broadcasting Company (NBC) is an Television in the United States, American English-language Commercial broadcasting, commercial television network, broadcast television and radio network. The flagship property of the NBC Enterta ...

radio program ''Golden Melodies'', which originated at

KOA KOA (short for Kampgrounds of America) is an American franchise of privately owned campgrounds. Having more than 500 locations across the United States and Canada, it is the world's largest system of privately owned campgrounds. It was founded in ...

in Denver. After that, she sang on ''

Hollywood Hotel The Hollywood Hotel was a famous hotel, society venue of early Hollywood, and landmark, formerly located at 6811 Hollywood Boulevard, on the north side, extending from Highland Avenue to Orchid Avenue, in central Hollywood, Los Angeles, Califor ...

'' and ''

The American Album of Familiar Music ''The American Album of Familiar Music'' is a radio program of popular music broadcast from October 11, 1931, to June 20, 1954, first on NBC, then on ABC and then on local stations. Directed by James Haupt, the show was produced by Frank and Anne ...

''. A protege of

Lily Pons Alice Joséphine Pons (April 12, 1898 – February 13, 1976), known professionally as Lily Pons, was a French-American operatic soprano and actress who had an active career from the late 1920s through the early 1970s. As an opera singer, she s ...

, Dickenson sang with symphonies in Denver and Milwaukee, the Little Symphony in Montreal, the Cincinnati Summer Opera, the

San Carlo Opera Company The San Carlo Opera Company was the name of two different opera companies active in the United States during the first half of the twentieth century. Henry Russell's San Carlo Opera The first company was founded by impresario Henry Russell, initi ...

, and with the Denver Grand Opera Company. On January 26, 1940, she made her

Metropolitan Opera The Metropolitan Opera (commonly known as the Met) is an American opera company based in New York City, resident at the Metropolitan Opera House at Lincoln Center, currently situated on the Upper West Side of Manhattan. The company is operat ...

debut, portraying Philena in ''

Mignon ''Mignon'' is an 1866 ''opéra comique'' (or opera in its second version) in three acts by Ambroise Thomas. The original French libretto was by Jules Barbier and Michel Carré, based on Goethe's 1795-96 novel '' Wilhelm Meisters Lehrjahre''. The ...

''. On

radio Radio is the technology of signaling and communicating using radio waves. Radio waves are electromagnetic waves of frequency between 30 hertz (Hz) and 300 gigahertz (GHz). They are generated by an electronic device called a transmit ...

, Dickenson sang on ''

'' for at least eight years.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Dickenson, Jean Year of birth missing Year of death missing 20th-century American women singers Metropolitan Opera people 20th-century American singers American radio personalities