Camilla Williams
October 18, 1919 – January 29, 2012)
First African-American to receive a contract with a major American opera company.
The First African-American Professor of Voice was appointed to the voice faculty of what is now known as the Indiana University Jacobs School of Music in 1977.
The first African-American instructor at the Central Conservatory of Music in Beijing, China.
American operatic soprano who performed nationally and internationally. After studying with renowned teachers in New York City, she was the first African American to receive a regular contract with a major American opera company, the New York City Opera. She had earlier won honors in vocal competitions and the Marian Anderson Fellowship in 1943–44.
In 1954 she became the first African American to sing a major role with the Vienna State Opera. She later also performed as a soloist with numerous European orchestras. As a concert artist, she toured throughout the United States as well as Asia, Australia, and New Zealand. In 1977, she was the first African American appointed as a Professor of Voice at Indiana University.
In 1950, Williams married Charles T. Beavers, a civil rights lawyer who worked closely with Malcolm X. He died in 1969. From 2000 to 2011, she lived in companionship with her accompanist Boris Bazala, from Bulgaria.
During the 1970s, Williams taught voice at many places, including Brooklyn College, Bronx College, Queens College, Talent Unlimited, and Danville Museum of Fine Arts.
Williams was the first African-American Professor of Voice appointed to the voice faculty of what is now known as the Indiana University Jacobs School of Music in 1977. In 1984 she became the first African-American instructor at the Central Conservatory of Music in Beijing, China. In 1997 Camilla Williams became a Professor Emerita of Voice at Indiana University Jacobs School of Music but continued to teach privately.
Camilla Williams who broke racial barriers with her passion and drive passed away on January 29, 2012, at her home in Bloomington, Indiana at the age of 92 from complications of cancer.
Awards and Honors
1995, she was the inaugural recipient of the National Opera Association’s “Lift Every Voice” Legacy Award, honoring the contributions of African Americans to the field of opera.
1996, she was honored as an Outstanding African American Singer/Pioneer by Harvard University.
2000, her career as a pioneering African-American opera singer was profiled in Aida’s Brothers and Sisters: Black Voices in Opera, a PBS documentary first broadcast in February of that year.
2006, Williams was also profiled in the 2006 PBS documentary The Mystery of Love.
2007, she was one of eight women honored by the Library of Virginia during Women’s History Month as part of its Virginia Women in History project.
On February 11, 2009, a Tribute to Camilla Williams program was held in New York, sponsored by the New York City Opera and the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture.
On September 4, 2009, she was awarded the President’s Medal for Excellence by Indiana University.