DIY History | Transcribe | Campus Culture | Cecile Cooper newspaper clippings, 1966-1987 | 1971-05-18 ""Black Opera Star Finds Race Bias in Companies""

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Cecile Cooper newspaper clippings, 1966-1987

1971-05-18 ""Black Opera Star Finds Race Bias in Companies""

Black Opera Star Finds Race Bias in Companies
DMR 5/18/71
By Gary Claxton
(Register Staff Writer)

AIMES, IA. -- Opera -- often considered the bulwark of musical intelligence and sophistication -- still frequently draws a color line, an international opera star said here Monday.
"There definitely is one, I regret to say," said Simon Estes, a 33-year-old black bass-baritone who appeared with Eugene Ormandy and the Philadelphia Orchestra in the final concert of the Ames International Orchestra Festival Monday night.
"They don't object to black people singing the blues or popular music or jazz. This is what we're supposed to do," Estes said.
[[bold]]"But they know that opera is a very 'sophisticated' area of music, whatever sophistication might mean. And anything that requires respect and dignity is difficult for the black person to get into."[[end bold]]
Estes, a Centerville native who studied at the University of Iowa and the Julliard School in New York, won the silver medal in the first Tchaikovsky international vocal contest in Moscow in 1966.
"The visual aspect is definitely there," Estes said. "They wonder about a black man playing opposite a white woman, for instance. It makes a lot of them go into all sorts of degrees of panic.
Salary, Hiring
"They don't always want to pay a black man the same salary that they will a white man," he said. "And there are certain opera companies in this country that won't hire me because I'm black.
"Many times the director of an opera company wanted to engage me. But some little old white rich lady that gives some money to the opera says, 'If you hire him, because he's black, you won't get my money next season.'"
Estes, who flew to Ames from Scotland for the one-night performance, which was at 3 a.m. his time, added: "In Europe, I'm really treated like any other person. The European asks, 'What's wrong with your country? Why don't you stay here; why go back?'
[[bold]]"And I say I'm an American. I was born there and I'm going to stay there and fight and die for my rights to try to help this country become what it really should be," he said.[[end bold]]
"Usually, in the discrimination I have found in my travels, it's the more educated and the people with more money you have the least problem with. You have problems with the middle-class American and the lower-class white American," he said.
"But in opera, for some reason, I think it's been difficult to break through," he continued. "The ice has been broken, of course, but there's a long way to go."

In "Messiah"

Earlier this season, Estes appeared with the Philadelphia Orchestra in Handel's "Messiah" and in the western world premiere of Shostakovich's "Fourteenth Symphony."
Monday night featured an all-Beethoven program, during which Estes joined soprano Veronica Tyler, mezzo-soprano Joanna Simon, tenor Seth McCoy, and about 200 students in the Iowa State Singers and Oratorio Chorus, directed by Dr. W. Douglas Pritchard, for the Symphony No. 9 in D Minor, Op. 125 ("Choral").
The program opened with Symphony No. 1 in C major, Op. 21.

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Black Opera Star Finds Race Bias in Companies DMR 5/18/71 By Gary Claxton (Register Staff Writer) AIMES, IA. -- Opera -- often considered the bulwark of musical intelligence and sophistication -- still frequently draws a color line, an international opera star said here Monday. "There definitely is one, I regret to say," said Simon Estes, a 33-year-old black bass-baritone who appeared with Eugene Ormandy and the Philadelphia Orchestra in the final concert of the Ames International Orchestra Festival Monday night. "They don't object to black people singing the blues or popular music or jazz. This is what we're supposed to do," Estes said. [[bold]]"But they know that opera is a very 'sophisticated' area of music, whatever sophistication might mean. And anything that requires respect and dignity is difficult for the black person to get into."[[end bold]] Estes, a Centerville native who studied at the University of Iowa and the Julliard School in New York, won the silver medal in the first Tchaikovsky international vocal contest in Moscow in 1966. "The visual aspect is definitely there," Estes said. "They wonder about a black man playing opposite a white woman, for instance. It makes a lot of them go into all sorts of degrees of panic. Salary, Hiring "They don't always want to pay a black man the same salary that they will a white man," he said. "And there are certain opera companies in this country that won't hire me because I'm black. "Many times the director of an opera company wanted to engage me. But some little old white rich lady that gives some money to the opera says, 'If you hire him, because he's black, you won't get my money next season.'" Estes, who flew to Ames from Scotland for the one-night performance, which was at 3 a.m. his time, added: "In Europe, I'm really treated like any other person. The European asks, 'What's wrong with your country? Why don't you stay here; why go back?' [[bold]]"And I say I'm an American. I was born there and I'm going to stay there and fight and die for my rights to try to help this country become what it really should be," he said.[[end bold]] "Usually, in the discrimination I have found in my travels, it's the more educated and the people with more money you have the least problem with. You have problems with the middle-class American and the lower-class white American," he said. "But in opera, for some reason, I think it's been difficult to break through," he continued. "The ice has been broken, of course, but there's a long way to go." In "Messiah" Earlier this season, Estes appeared with the Philadelphia Orchestra in Handel's "Messiah" and in the western world premiere of Shostakovich's "Fourteenth Symphony." Monday night featured an all-Beethoven program, during which Estes joined soprano Veronica Tyler, mezzo-soprano Joanna Simon, tenor Seth McCoy, and about 200 students in the Iowa State Singers and Oratorio Chorus, directed by Dr. W. Douglas Pritchard, for the Symphony No. 9 in D Minor, Op. 125 ("Choral"). The program opened with Symphony No. 1 in C major, Op. 21.