A dramatic soprano, Norman was associated with roles such as Wagner's Sieglinde, Ariadne by Richard Strauss, Gluck's Alceste, Beethoven's Leonore and both Cassandre and Dido in Les Troyens by Berlioz. Norman was inducted into the Georgia Music Hall of Fame in 1999 and became a Spingarn Medalist in 2013.
READ MORE ABOUT HER HERE.
A WORD FROM SUPERVISOR PUGLISI http://www.townofcortlandt.com/cn/news/index.cfm?NID=49724&jump2=0
AND FROM NEWS 12 http://hudsonvalley.news12.com/story/41127217/cultural-icon-jessye-norman-remembered-by-fellow-hudson-valley-neighbors
There will never be another singer quite like her. Her voice was expressive, powerful, focused, and inimitable. The range of her voice was simply astounding--she had the richness of a contralto in the lower passages, but the true brilliance of the soprano she was in the upper register. Her repertory was incredible--German, Italian, French (they asked her to sing La Marseillaise in Paris on the 200th anniversary of the storming of the Bastille), but who will ever forget her foray into Hungarian in Bluebeard's Castle? Surely not her regular driver from Croton, to whom she gave house seats to let him hear her sing in her native language! We were honored that she chose to live in our town. But the whole world was honored that she shared her amazing gifts with us.
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