President Andy’s Newsletter March 3rd 2010

 A Night at the Opera

A world-renowned opera singer from Oklahoma? That’s right. Born and raised in Enid, Oklahoma, Leona Mitchell has performed around the world.

She has sung in opera houses in New York, London, Rome, Berlin, Vienna, Paris and Buenos Aires, to name just a few. She has worked with the world’s greatest conductors, including Zubin Mehta, Seiji Ozawa, and Kurt Masur. And she has recorded DVDs with the three great tenors: Luciano Pavarotti, Placido Domingo and Jose Carreras.

Mitchell has performed in many of the great operas: from Bizet’s Carmen and Puccini’s La Boheme, to Verdi’s Il Trovatore and La Forza del Destino and Mozart’s Die Zauberflöte, among many others. She sang the lead role in the first complete recording of Porgy and Bess. She has sung for five American Presidents: Gerald Ford, Jimmy Carter, Ronald Reagan, George H. W. Bush, and Bill Clinton.

The tenth of fifteen children born to Hulon and Pearl Mitchell, Leona earned her bachelor’s degree in music from Oklahoma City University, and has received honorary degrees from the University of Oklahoma and Oklahoma City University. She spent 18 years as a leading Spinto Soprano at the Metropolitan Opera in New York. She belongs to The Oklahoma Hall of Fame, The Oklahoma Music Hall of Fame, The Jazz Hall of Fame and The Oklahoma Women’s Hall of Fame. In 2003, Governor Brad Henry named Mitchell the state’s Cultural Ambassador.

Despite the demands of her career, Mitchell has continually given so much of herself to her home state. What a great ambassador Oklahoma has in Leona Mitchell.

She is married to Elmer Bush, who also serves as her manager. They have one son, Elmer Bush, IV.

Please welcome to the Rotary Club of Edmond our special guest, Leona Mitchell.

Andy

Comments

You must be logged in to post a comment.