Alumna Interview: Osceola Davis (Opera ’72)—Part One
What inspired your decision to audition for Curtis?
I grew up in Camden, right across the bridge, but I went to what was the UArts [University of the Arts]. When I graduated from the U of the Arts, I wanted to continue my education. I wasn’t really sure where or what, or how, and my brother, who was a big supporter of mine, realized that Curtis was holding auditions for [the revived] opera department. Since that was my particular thought at that time, he said, “Why don’t you try out for it?” So I went and sang “Una voce poco fa” for Max Rudolf [head of Curtis’ opera and conducting department from 1970–73], and at the end, I stuck in a high G. The rest is history.
As you reflect on your time in Philadelphia, are there any performances or behind-the-scenes moments that you remember fondly?
When we did Così fan tutte, I was Despina. There’s a part where Despina changes into Dr. Mesmer. After the big costume change backstage, where I had a big pillow in front of me, I came back out on stage, and I was playing and dancing and having a ball with that character, and I happened to look at the audience. [Ms. Davis covers her eyes and smiles] I’m like, what is going on? What’s happened? They’re all looking right at me, but I had to stay in character. So, I sang and brought my hand down to see what was happening, and I caught my trousers just before they dropped to the floor. [Laughs] I dashed around the corner, and of course, my dressers were all gone because they thought they were finished, but I was trying to get myself back in shape to return to the stage. It was taking a little longer than expected, and it was time for me to sing my line, so I stuck my head around the corner and sang my lines from there. When I was ready, I came back on stage and, of course, we all lived happily ever after.
Was there a particular professor or mentor at Curtis who played a key role in shaping your professional development?
The whole faculty was wonderful. And yes, there was a particularly outstanding professor who really encouraged me to go for it, and that was Sylvia Olden Lee. She took me under her arm as if I were her daughter—I call her my musical mother. She was the one who, when I finished at Curtis, said, you have to go to Europe and audition, but I didn’t want to go. She said, “Don’t go over there expecting a job. Just go and audition and see how you fit in the world music market. Come back and do whatever you want to do, but you have to do this, and if you don’t do it, I will feel as though I’m wasting my time with you.” She was very headstrong.
I told her that I didn’t have the money, and she said, “Do whatever you have to do—that is honest—to get the money. You must go over there.” Well, the first time I went over there to audition, I forgot all about [it] because she had told me about a competition that was going on in Munich, Germany, the Internationaler Musikwettbewerb der ARD, and I did very well, but it was so far from home I was glad to have the opportunity to come back home. And then when I came back, she said, “Okay, well, fine. What did the agents say?” And I asked her, “What agents?” She said, “The agents. That’s why I told you to go over there and audition…for the agents. Well, you have to go back. Just go and do it.” That was it. If you knew Sylvia Lee, you know there were no ifs, ands, or buts about it.
After graduating from Curtis and stepping into the young artist scene, what events set your professional operatic career in motion?
So, I was in the chorus of a Broadway show [Sigmund Romberg’s operetta, The Desert Song; 1973 production at the Uris Theatre, now the Gershwin Theatre], and I got a little money from that, and someone else in the chorus had heard my audition for the show. She told me the same thing that Mrs. Lee said: that I needed to go to Europe and audition, leave the show, and stop wasting time because I really have talent. So, I went back over to Europe, and my first stop again was in Munich, this time in particular, the opera house [StaatsTheater am Gärtnerplatz]. I sang for Franz Allers, a naturalized American working over there. What did I sing? “Una voce poco fa.” [Laughter]
I really wanted to sing Zerbinetta, because it’s German. But he said, “We’re not doing Ariadne.” So, I just sang Rosina’s aria, called an agent, and sang for him, and he set up a tour for me. But before that, Franz Allers called me and said he had a stage audition planned for me, and he wanted me to sing. I was scared. I was over there by myself. I didn’t know anybody. I just didn’t feel emotionally or physically ready to go on a tour and come back to an audition. So, for me, it felt like it was one or the other.
I gave up the tour for the audition, knowing that at least that would be a definite house. So, what did I sing? You guessed it. [Laughter] And they offered me a contract on the spot to sing the role of Rosina in The Barber of Seville. I didn’t know they had been looking for a Rosina for a long time, and here I came along and I sang the aria. But yes, there was a catch. I had to do it in German in about two months. So this was in October, and the performance was scheduled for December, but it ended up being pushed back to January.
“Una voce poco fa” turned into “Frag’ ich mein beklommen Herz,” and in the second act, Rossini has an aria where Rosina sings in her voice lesson. As it turned out, this was an audition performance—it was an audition in front of an entire audience. They didn’t tell me it was for the heads of state, because, you know, all the German houses are sponsored by the state. I hadn’t been in any of the provinces. I hadn’t had any experience at all in Germany, and was right out of Curtis. So, they had to prove to them that I was worth putting on their payroll.
They really wanted to show me off, so they took the second aria out and put another song in to show my capability, which turned out to be the Mozart variation on “Ah! vous dirai-je, maman.” They had my coach rearrange it to show off the brilliancy of my voice, and he had me singing things that the flute was supposed to be playing. He also had me singing things that were an octave above the flute.
During the intermission, before I got to the second act, I was whisked away again to the office of the intendant (opera administrator, often called the artistic director), and all these unfriendly-looking people were standing there. I had no idea who they were, and I’m like, “What’s going on?” Then the intendant said that they were offering me a contract right then and there for their opera house, beginning with that very performance. Before, when I stepped in his office for the first time, he said he was offering me a contract for two years, but when I went to the office the night of the performance, he said it was for three years, to be renewed if I so desired.
How could I say no? And I still had the second half of the performance to do. If I said no, they would not have even given me money to get back home, and I don’t really swim that well in the Atlantic. [Laughter] So, of course I said yes, and I went back on. I had to. And when I sang that “Ah! vous dirai-je, maman,” I had a five-minute ovation. The show stopped. I kept wondering why the conductor wasn’t ready to go on after I finished. Instead, he put the baton down, took out his hanky, wiped his forehead, put the hanky back in his pocket, folded his arms, leaned back against the railing, and crossed his legs. He just stood there. And I’m wondering why he’s doing that? The show has to go on. We have more to go. Somehow, I did not hear the thunderous applause. That was really the beginning of my official opera career.
Interview with Osceola Davis by Ryan Scott Lathan. Part two will be published on March 5, 2025. This interview was edited and condensed.
OSCEOLA DAVIS BIOGRAPHY
Internationally acclaimed soprano Osceola Davis (Opera ’72) began her musical journey in Camden, New Jersey, where she studied with Viennese voice teacher Adele Newfield and learned Rosina’s aria “Una voce poco fa” from Gioachino Rossini’s Il Barbiere di Siviglia. This early training led her to win first place in the local Shriner’s Competition (Zamora Temple of the Prince Hall) with that particular aria and represent the chapter in the national competition in St. Louis, where she earned third place.
Emboldened by the win, Ms. Davis went on to continue her studies, earning Bachelor of Music and Bachelor of Music Education degrees from the University of the Arts in Philadelphia before entering Curtis Institute of Music in 1970, where she worked with the late Sylvia Olden Lee, and performed operatic roles in Così fan tutte, Der Freischütz, and I quattro rusteghi (The School for Fathers). After teaching music in Camden and Philadelphia public schools, she joined the prestigious Metropolitan Opera Studio and attended the Tanglewood Music Festival and the Wolf Trap Summer Festival. After a brief stint on Broadway, Ms. Davis made her European debut as Rosina in Il Barbiere di Siviglia in Munich and later became the first Afro-American coloratura to perform the Queen of the Night in Die Zauberflöte at the Metropolitan Opera, igniting a career that took her to major opera houses across the globe, including Covent Garden, La Scala, and the Savonlinna Opera Festival. She later earned a Master of Arts degree in teaching music from Lehman College, CUNY, and currently serves on the faculty there as adjunct assistant professor in the music department.
Ms. Davis has performed for presidents and ambassadors and has concertized at prestigious venues such as Carnegie Hall and Alice Tully Hall. Her repertoire includes roles such as Blondchen in Die Entführung aus dem Serail, Olympia in The Tales of Hoffmann, Gilda in Rigoletto, and Zerbinetta in Ariadne auf Naxos. Ms. Davis’ reviews highlight her remarkable vocal qualities, with The New York Times praising her “clear, vibrant and full” voice extending to the high “F” region, Finland’s Helsingen Sanomat noting her blend of “delicate gracefulness and strength, with a nightingale-like voice,” and Germany’s Süddeutsche Zeitung describing it as “a voice of unlimited capability.” Ms. Davis is listed in Marquis Who’s Who in America and Who’s Who in the World publications.
