Her manager Hurok did his best to make sure that Anderson was shielded from details about venues that refused to let her perform because she was African-American. In 1937, when she was denied lodgings in Princeton, New Jersey, Albert Einstein hosted her and the two remained friends until his death in 1955. This performance reintroduced her to the American public, and following it she was more easily able to find performance venues.Īnderson's fame and extended time in Europe meant that she was often allowed in places where her race would have otherwise been a barrier, but she was still frequently denied entrance to hotels and restaurants when touring in the States. After an Anderson performance in Salzburg in 1935, Arturo Toscanini said, 'Yours is such a voice as one hears in a hundred years!' Near the end of that year, Anderson returned briefly to the States, at the urging of Hurok, where she gave a concert in New York. While performing in Paris, she met Sol Hurok, who would become her lifelong manager. Anderson toured Scandinavia and was a great success the noted Finnish composer Jean Sibelius told her, 'My roof is too low for you.' She continued to tour Europe from 1932-35.

She applied, and received a scholarship in 1931, and moved to Berlin. After a performance in England, Anderson was greeted backstage by a representative of the Rosenwald fund, who encouraged her to apply for a fellowship to study in Germany. Through people she had met while performing at churches, she made contact with several voice teachers in England, one of whom introduced her to the German song form lieder, which would become a hallmark of her repertoire. In the summer of 1929, Anderson resolved to travel to Europe to gain a wider reputation. Despite her successful performance in New York, Anderson had difficulty finding venues in the States that would book her because of her race, and for several years her career stalled. After this performance, Anderson was signed by a concert manager and was able to study with Frank La Forge, another noted voice teacher.

The prize was a concert at Lewisohn Stadium with the New York Philharmonic Orchestra. His lessons helped prepare her for a singing contest held by the Philadelphia Philharmonic Society, which she won in 1926. Anderson's church held a fundraiser so that she could study privately with the renowned music teacher Giuseppe Boghetti. When she finished high school, Anderson attempted to enroll in an all-white music school in Philadelphia she was turned down due to her race. She was invited to sing with her school chorus the school's principal noticed her during a performance and suggested that she transfer to a college preparatory course that would allow her to devote more time to music studies. When she entered high school, Anderson intended to follow a commercial education course to help support her family, but she continued to sing and perform with church groups around Philadelphia. When Anderson was ten, her father was killed in a work accident and her mother became the family's sole supporter, working as a housekeeper and laundress. Anderson taught herself to play piano and violin, although her voice was still her preferred instrument. She was presented in one church program as the 'Baby Contralto.' To this early experience, Anderson later attributed her wide vocal range. She began singing when she was six, in the church choir, and by eight had become a regular substitute, filling in for absent sopranos, tenors and even bass. Her father, John Berkley Anderson, sold ice and coal and her mother Annie Delilah Rucker Anderson was a former schoolmistress. Marian Anderson was born on Febru(although throughout much of her life she gave her birth date as February 17, 1902) in south Philadelphia.

Marian anderson music study center