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Nash, Elizabeth H.

Dr. Elizabeth H. Nash is currently Associate Professor in the Department of Theatre Arts at the University of Minnesota. She received her Ph.D. from the Theatre and Drama Department at Indiana University.

Autobiographical Reminiscences of African-American Classical Singers, 1853 - Present
2007 0-7734-5250-8
This comprehensive book of autobiographical writings, interviews, and articles reveals the thoughts and lives of African-American musicians, examining their place in musical performance and their role in introducing the Negro spiritual into the classical repertoire. The list of individuals this study looks at includes Elizabeth Taylor Greenfield, the Original Fisk University Jubilee Singers, and Sissieretta Jones in the 19th century, early pioneers of the 20th century-E. Azaliah Hackley, Julius Bledsoe, Eva Jessye and Roland Hayes-their successors Marian Anderson, Paul Robeson, Todd Duncan, Camilla Williams and Dorothy Maynor-followed in the later 20th and early 21st centuries by Leontyne Price, William Warfield, George Shirley, Shirley Verrett, Grace Bumbry, Jessye Norman, Kathleen Battle, Vinson Cole, Mark S. Doss and Denyce Graves.

Memoirs of Sylvia Olden Lee, Premier African-American Classical Vocal Coach Who is Sylvia
2001 0-7734-7621-0
This is the only autobiography of America’s first internationally renowned African-American classical vocal coach for concert, oratorio, and opera as well as a distinguished arranger and interpretive authority on Negro Spirituals. Mrs. Lee has been a pioneer in the musical field as the first African-American hired onto the staffs of the Metropolitan Opera and the Curtis Institute of Music. She worked with world-acclaimed singers Elisabeth Schumann, Paul Robeson, Dorothy Maynor, Lawrence Winters, Mattiwilda Dobbs, Jessye Norman, and Kathleen Battle. Her appearance on PBS TV with Kathleen Battle and Wynton Marsalis was a fascinating critical interaction between artists and teacher. She has been honored by the United Nations and the National Women’s Hall of Fame. With illustrations.