Marian Anderson arrives in London in 1952. On June 8, 2024, the Philadelphia Orchestra named its main performance hall in her honor. Douglas Miller/Getty Images hide caption
Marian Anderson Marian Anderson artist page: interviews, features and/or performances archived at NPR Music
Marian Anderson
Marian Anderson recording at Webster Hall with her accompanist Franz Rupp in August 1961. John G. Ross/Sony Music hide caption
Marian Anderson/Lizz Wright, Rhiannon Giddens Getty Images/NPR hide caption
Turning the Tables at Lincoln Center NPR hide caption
Turning The Tables: Celebrating Eight Women Who Invented American Popular Music
WBGO and Jazz at Lincoln Center
Turning The Tables: Celebrating Eight Women Who Invented American Popular Music
Marian Anderson's story reveals a longstanding legacy of black women amplifying black women's perspectives through the politics of concert performance. Michael Ochs Archives/Getty Images hide caption
Marian Anderson is known more for two events than for the talents that made them possible. But there is more to be told, and so she asks us to listen again for who and what we know her to be. © Yousuf Karsh/http://karsh.org hide caption
Marian Anderson sings at the Lincoln Memorial, 1939. Even as her mink coat might have served practical purposes, it was also richly symbolic. Bettmann/Bettmann Archive/Getty Images hide caption
An undated portrait of America contralto Marian Anderson at her home. London Express/Getty Images hide caption
Opera singer Marian Anderson performs on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial in 1939 Hulton Archive/Getty Images hide caption
Turning The Tables: 8 Women Who Invented American Popular Music Chelsea Beck for NPR hide caption
Contralto Marian Anderson in the role of Ulrica from a Metropolitan Opera production of Verdi's Un ballo en maschera in 1955. Anderson was the first African-American soloist to appear at the Met. Sedge LeBlang/Metropolitan Opera Archives hide caption
Contralto Marian Anderson sang at the steps of the Lincoln Memorial, April 9, 1939, to an estimated crowd of 75,000 people. University of Pennsylvania hide caption
Marian Anderson broke the color barrier at the Metropolitan Opera in 1955 when she starred in Verdi's Un Ballo in Maschera. Sony Classical Archives hide caption
Re dell'abisso, affrettati
The Victor Orchestra crowds around an enormous horn for an early acoustical recording session. courtesy of Recorded Sound Section, MBRS Division, Library of Congress hide caption