St. Louis, Missouri (January 4, 1937 – May 7, 2023) age 86 yrs

Grace Ann Melzia Bumbry was an American opera singer. She was considered one of the leading mezzo-sopranos of her generation. She also ventured to soprano roles. She belonged to a pioneering generation of African American classical singers, led by Marian Anderson. She gained international recognition when Wieland Wagner cast her for the 1961 Bayreuth Festival as Venus in Tannhäuser. She was the first black singer to perform at the festival. In the 1990s, Bumbry founded the Grace Bumbry Black Musical Heritage Ensemble. The group was devoted to preserving and performing traditional Negro spirituals. She toured with them. She devoted herself to teaching and judging international competitions. She also performed on the concert stage. She gave a series of recitals in 2001 and 2002. These were in honor of her teacher, Lotte Lehmann. From the late 1980s on, she concentrated her career in Europe, rather than in the United States. A long-time resident of Switzerland, she spent her last years in Vienna.