Maynor, Dorothy (Leigh)

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Maynor, Dorothy (Leigh)

Maynor, Dorothy (Leigh) , noted black American soprano and music educator; b. Norfolk, Va., Sept. 3, 1910; d. West Chester, Pa., Feb. 19, 1996. She was educated at the Hampton Inst. (B.S., 1933). She began her career singing in various choirs, and later toured with the inst/s famous chorus in Europe; subsequently studied at Westminster Choir Coll. and with William Kamroth and John Alan Haughton in N.Y. After a successful appearance at the Berkshire Music Festival at Tangle wood in 1939, she made her Town Hall debut in N.Y. on Nov. 19, 1939. In subsequent years, she toured widely in the U.S. and Europe as a concert singer, appearing with leading orchs. She founded the Harlem School of the Arts in 1963 to provide music education for underprivileged children, and served as its executive director until her retirement in 1979.

Bibliography

W. Rogers, D. M. and the Harlem School of the Arts: The Diva and the Dream (Lewiston, N.Y., 1993).

—Nicolas Slonimsky/Laura Kuhn/Dennis McIntire