Mary Lucinda Cardwell Dawson (1894-1962) was an American musician and teacher and the founding director of the

National Negro Opera Company The National Negro Opera Company (1941–1962) was the first African-American opera company in the United States. Organized in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, under the direction of Mary Cardwell Dawson, the company was launched with a performance at t ...

(NNOC).

Biography

Dawson née Cardwell was born in 1894 in Madison, North Carolina. She studied music at the

New England Conservatory of Music The New England Conservatory of Music (NEC) is a Private college, private music school in Boston, Massachusetts. It is the oldest independent music Music school, conservatory in the United States and among the most prestigious in the world. The ...

in Boston graduating in 1925. She continued her studies at the

Chicago Musical College Chicago Musical College is a division of the Chicago College of Performing Arts at Roosevelt University. History Founding Dr. Florenz Ziegfeld Sr (1841–1923), founded the college in 1867 as the Chicago Academy of Music. The institution h ...

. In the late 1920s, she married Walter Dawson, a master electrician, and they moved to

Pittsburgh Pittsburgh ( ) is a city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, United States, and the county seat of Allegheny County, Pennsylvania, Allegheny County. It is the most populous city in both Allegheny County and Wester ...

, Pennsylvania. In 1927, Dawson opened the Cardwell Dawson School of Music in the Homewood neighborhood of Pittsburgh, which remained open until 1941. Dawson also organized the Cardwell Dawson Choir. After presenting the opera ''

Aida ''Aida'' (or ''Aïda'', ) is an opera in four acts by Giuseppe Verdi to an Italian libretto by Antonio Ghislanzoni. Set in the Old Kingdom of Egypt, it was commissioned by Cairo's Khedivial Opera House and had its première there on 24 December ...

'' at the

National Association of Negro Musicians The National Association of Negro Musicians, Inc. is one of the oldest organizations in the United States dedicated to the preservation, encouragement, and advocacy of all genres of the music of African-Americans. NANM had its beginning on May 3, ...

convention of 1941, Dawson launched her National Negro Opera Company (NNOC) later that same year with a performance at Pittsburgh's

Syria Mosque Syria Mosque was a 3,700-seat performance venue located in the Oakland neighborhood of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Constructed in 1911 and dedicated on October 26, 1916, the building was originally built as a "mystical" shrine for the Ancient Arab ...

. The star was

La Julia Rhea La Julia Rhea (March 16, 1898 – July 5, 1992) was an American operatic soprano. Biography Early life and career Rhea was born and raised in Louisville, Kentucky and began singing publicly at the Hill Street Baptist Church of that city, ...

, and other members included

Minto Cato Minto Cato (born La Minto Cato, August 23, 1900 – October 26, 1979) was a mezzo-soprano opera singer and show performer during the Harlem Renaissance from the 1920s to the late 1940s. Life and career Minto Cato was born in Little Rock, Arkansa ...

Carol Brice Carol Brice (April 16, 1918 – February 15, 1985) was an American contralto. Born in Sedalia, North Carolina, she studied at Palmer Memorial Institute and later at Talladega College in Talladega, Alabama, where she received a Bachelor of Music i ...

Robert McFerrin Robert Keith McFerrin Sr. (March 19, 1921 – November 24, 2006) was an American operatic baritone and the first African-American man to sing at the Metropolitan Opera in New York City. His voice was described by critic Albert Goldberg in the '' ...

, and

Lillian Evanti Lillian Evanti (August 12, 1890 – December 6, 1967), was an African American opera singer. Evanti was the first African American to perform with a major European opera company Life She was born in Washington, D.C., and graduated from Armstron ...

. NNOC mounted productions in

Washington D.C. ) , image_skyline = , image_caption = Clockwise from top left: the Washington Monument and Lincoln Memorial on the National Mall, United States Capitol, Logan Circle, Jefferson Memorial, White House, Adams Morgan, Na ...

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

, Chicago, and Pittsburgh. Dawson was devoted to bringing opera to African American audiences. She organized opera guilds in Baltimore, Chicago, Cleveland, Detroit, Washington, D.C., Newark, and New York. She trained hundreds of African American youth to sing opera. In 1961, Dawson was appointed to the National Music Committee by President

John F. Kennedy John Fitzgerald Kennedy (May 29, 1917 – November 22, 1963), often referred to by his initials JFK and the nickname Jack, was an American politician who served as the 35th president of the United States from 1961 until his assassination i ...

. Dawson died in 1962.

''The Passion of Mary Cardwell Dawson''

''The Passion of Mary Cardwell Dawson'' is a play that was commissioned and premiered at the

Glimmerglass Festival The Glimmerglass Festival (formerly known as Glimmerglass Opera) is an American opera company. Founded in 1975 by Peter Macris, the Glimmerglass Festival presents an annual season of operas at the Alice Busch Opera Theater on Otsego Lake eight ...

in Cooperstown, New York in 2021. The play and text for music were written by Sandra Seaton with original music by Carlos Simon. The play tells the story of her founding of the National Negro Opera Company. Total run time is 70 minutes.

References

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Dawson, Mary Cardwell 1894 births 1962 deaths 20th-century African-American women singers 20th-century American women opera singers African-American women opera singers American women music educators American opera directors Classical musicians from Pennsylvania Educators from Pennsylvania Musicians from Pittsburgh New England Conservatory alumni Singers from Pennsylvania Voice teachers

Biography

''The Passion of Mary Cardwell Dawson''

Further reading

References