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Anne Wiggins Brown (August 9, 1912 – March 13, 2009), African American Soprano and Broadway star.

In 1928, when she was just 16 years old, Brown was admitted to the Julliard School in New York City, becoming the first African American vocalist to attend. #harlem
08:43 PM - Mar 13, 2024
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Brown got her big break on September 30th, 1935, when she performed the part of Bess in the world premiere of Porgy and Bess at the Colonial Theater in Boston.

Brown was such a talented soprano at Julliard that George Gershwin chose Anne to perform the role of “Bess” in his opera.
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08:43 PM - Mar 13, 2024
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"Porgy and Bess" endures as Brown’s most memorable role. She performed the part roughly five hundred times over the years, first in the original run, and then again in the 1942 Broadway revival.

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Brown toured Europe as a concert soprano from 1942 to 1948. While traveling in Norway, she met her husband, Olympic medal skier Thorleif Schjelderup. She settled in Oslo, Norway, and became a Norwegian citizen.

Her career was cut short in 1955 due to asthma complications.
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In 1998, Anne Brown received the George Peabody Medal for Outstanding Contributions to Music in America from the Peabody Institute, the institution that had denied her music education 70 years earlier.

Brown was a former resident of 555 Edgecombe Avenue, Harlem, NYC.

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08:43 PM - Mar 13, 2024
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