View source for Helen Phillips (soprano)

{{short description|American opera singer}}

{{more citations needed|date=October 2013}}

'''Helen L. Phillips''' (8 December 1919 – 27 July 2005)<ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=_nvGCwAAQBAJ&pg=PA295|title=Obituaries in the Performing Arts, 2005: Film, Television, Radio, Theatre, Dance, Music, Cartoons and Pop Culture|date=24 October 2008|publisher=Harris M. Lentz III|isbn=9780786452101|access-date=25 July 2019}}</ref> was an American dramatic lyric [[soprano]] who broke through racial barriers as a concert singer and&mdash;almost in passing&mdash;on the [[opera]] stage.

==Biography==
She was born in St. Louis, Missouri, the daughter of a Baptist minister, the Rev. James Phillips. She attended Sumner High School in St. Louis and Lincoln University in Jefferson City, Missouri,<ref name=USAToday /> and did graduate studies in music and in sociology at [[Fisk University]] in Nashville, Tennessee.

At the age of 14, she was one of the soloists at the dedication of the Municipal Auditorium in St. Louis.  She was the first black singer to perform with the [[Metropolitan Opera]] chorus (seven years before [[Marian Anderson]]'s debut<ref>[http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1G2-3057100047.html "Phillips, Helen L.", ''Contemporary Black Biography'', 2008.]</ref>) &mdash;later saying she just "slipped in".<ref>[https://web.archive.org/web/20140528010813/http://articles.sun-sentinel.com/2005-08-08/news/0508070150_1_helen-l-phillips-ms-phillips-metropolitan-opera-chorus Michael S. Schmidt, "Helen Phillips, 86, Soprano, First Black To Perform At Met", ''Sun Sentinel'', August 8, 2005.]</ref> Her agent had been told to send his best soprano as an extra for five performances of [[Pietro Mascagni|Mascagni]]'s ''[[Cavalleria Rusticana]]'' in 1947 &mdash; and though the stage manager was momentarily non-plussed by her race, did nothing to hamper her debut.

Among the stories she recounted about her world travels was an episode on the [[Oriental Express]], when she encountered two Russian soldiers "who started deriding the United States and talking about the plight of Negroes in this country. During the course of the conversation, one took my glasses and refused to give them back. Then he tried to get fresh, and I slapped him good and hard."

Throughout the 1940s and 1950s, she was primarily a concert singer, touring the United States, Europe, Africa, and South America. She was noted for her interpretation of German Lieder and Negro spirituals, and fluent in German, she toured Austria and West Germany for the State Department after World War II. She made her [[The Town Hall (New York City)|Town Hall]] debut in 1953, and she was in a production of ''[[Show Boat]]'' in 1954.<ref name=USAToday />

Retiring from the stage, she became a teacher and vocal coach. She died, age 86, from heart disease at the Isabella Geriatric Center in Manhattan.<ref name=USAToday>[http://usatoday30.usatoday.com/life/people/2005-08-09-phillips-obit_x.htm "Opera singer Helen L. Phillips dies", ''USA Today''], August 9, 2005.</ref>

==References==
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Phillips, Helen}}
[[Category:1919 births]]
[[Category:2005 deaths]]
[[Category:American operatic sopranos]]
[[Category:Baptists from Missouri]]
[[Category:Fisk University alumni]]
[[Category:Lincoln University (Missouri) alumni]]
[[Category:Singers from St. Louis]]
[[Category:20th-century African-American women singers]]
[[Category:20th-century American singers]]
[[Category:20th-century American women opera singers]]
[[Category:African-American women opera singers]]
[[Category:Classical musicians from Missouri]]
[[Category:20th-century Baptists]]
[[Category:21st-century American women]]