Denyce Graves, who has entertained audiences worldwide with her mezzo-soprano voice, will perform in recital for the Juneteenth WorldWide Concert on Sunday, June 19, at the Long Beach Terrace Theater, 300 E. Ocean Blvd., at 2:30pm. The concert will also include tributes to the 150th anniversary of the Civil War and to fathers worldwide. Leo Stallworth, KABC7 News reporter, will emcee the opening ceremony.
Juneteenth, also known as Freedom Day or Emancipation Day, commemorates the announcement of the abolition of slavery in the state of Texas in 1865, two years after Abraham Lincoln’s Emancipation Proclamation. It is the oldest celebration in the nation commemorating the ending of slavery and is an official state holiday in 37 states.
Tickets are $75, $65, $50, $45, and $30, and are available at the Terrace Theater box office. Student rush tickets will be offered at a 50-percent discount to students, seniors and fathers beginning at 12:30pm. Tickets may also be purchased online at ticketmaster.com or by telephoning 1-800-745-3000.
Group discount tickets are available at 1-800-398-7021 or 1-714-773-9800.
Raised with two siblings by a single mother in Southwest Washington, D.C., Graves attended the Duke Ellington School of the Arts and went on to vocal studies at Oberlin College and Conservatory in Ohio and the New England Conservatory in Boston. Further study at the Wolf Trap Opera Company in Washington prepared her for her professional career.
Graves made her debut with the Metropolitan Opera in 1995 in the title role of Bizet’s Carmen and two years later opened the Met season in the same role, opposite Placido Domingo. She subsequently starred with Domingo in the Los Angeles Opera production of St. Saens Samson and Delilah.
Graves was chosen to sing “America the Beautiful” and “The Lord’s Prayer” at the Washington National Cathedral during a memorial service honoring the victims of 9/11 on September 14, 2001, attended by President George W. Bush, members of Congress, other politicians and representatives of foreign governments. In January 2007 she performed “The Lord’s Prayer” at the state funeral for former President Gerald Ford at the Washington National Cathedral.
In 2008 Graves was invited to sing in celebration of Pope Benedict XVI’s first visit to the United States at an open-air Mass in Washington, D.C., and on April 12, 2009, she performed a tribute concert in honor of African-American contralto Marian Anderson’s 1939 concert on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial.
To learn more about Graves, visit her official website at denycegraves.com.
