|
|
SENATE RESOLUTION NO. 933
|
|
|
|
In Memory |
|
of |
|
Barbara Smith Conrad |
|
|
WHEREAS, Countless people were inspired by the grace and |
|
courage of famed mezzo-soprano Barbara Smith Conrad, who died on |
|
May 22, 2017, at the age of 79; and |
|
|
WHEREAS, Raised in the East Texas town of Center Point, |
|
Barbara Louise Smith excelled in University Interscholastic |
|
League singing and debate competitions and was recruited by The |
|
University of Texas at Austin; she enrolled in 1956, the first |
|
year in which African American undergraduates were admitted; a |
|
faculty member urged her to audition for the female lead in the |
|
College of Fine Arts production of the opera Dido and Aeneas; |
|
when she won the role, segregationists protested her being cast |
|
opposite a white male, but she persevered despite threatening calls |
|
and a physical attack; ultimately she was advised by university |
|
administrators that she could not appear in the production; the |
|
controversy drew national attention, and superstar Harry |
|
Belafonte offered to sponsor her studies at any school in the |
|
country; though shocked and hurt by the injustice, she was |
|
committed to the integration of the university and chose to |
|
complete her degree in music; and |
|
|
WHEREAS, With assistance from Mr. Belafonte and former |
|
first lady Eleanor Roosevelt, she moved to New York after |
|
graduation; because there was already a Barbara Smith in Actor's |
|
Equity, she adopted her father's first name, Conrad, as part of |
|
her stage name; although she was passed over for some roles |
|
because of her race, her career flourished nonetheless, and in |
|
1977, she played another pioneer, Marian Anderson, in the movie |
|
Eleanor and Franklin: The White House Years; she spent eight |
|
years with the Metropolitan Opera and performed with other noted |
|
companies, among them the Vienna State Opera, the New York City |
|
Opera, and Venezuela's Teatro Nacional; under the direction of |
|
Lorin Maazel, Leonard Bernstein, and other renowned conductors, |
|
she sang with many of the world's greatest orchestras, including |
|
the New York Philharmonic and the London, Boston, Cleveland, and |
|
Detroit symphonies; she also earned critical acclaim with an |
|
album of the spirituals she had loved since her youth, and she was |
|
the cofounder and codirector of the Wagner Theater Program at the |
|
Manhattan School of Music, as well as an eminent private vocal |
|
coach; and |
|
|
WHEREAS, Barbara Smith Conrad was named a Distinguished |
|
Alumna of The University of Texas in 1985, and the university |
|
established the Barbara Smith Conrad Endowed Presidential |
|
Scholarship in Fine Arts; reconnected to her alma mater, she |
|
performed and taught master classes, and in 2012, she was |
|
appointed as a visiting professor and artist-in-residence at the |
|
Butler School of Music; she spoke at the College of Fine Arts |
|
commencementceremonythatyearandbecameanartisticadviser |
|
and ambassador for the American Spirituals Initiative at the |
|
Dolph Briscoe Center for American History; the center produced a |
|
biographical documentary, When I Rise: The Story of Barbara Smith |
|
Conrad, which premiered at the 2010 South by Southwest Film |
|
Festival and aired nationally on PBS; the film includes her |
|
deeply moving 2009 performance in the Capitol Rotunda on the |
|
occasion of her recognition by the Texas Legislature; her myriad |
|
accolades also include the Texas Medal of Arts Award for Lifetime |
|
Achievement and the History-Making Texan Award; and |
|
|
WHEREAS, The loss of Barbara Smith Conrad is keenly felt by |
|
The University of Texas community and by all who were privileged |
|
to share in the richness of her life, but her outstanding |
|
contributions as an artist and trailblazer will continue to |
|
resonate in the years to come; now, therefore, be it |
|
|
RESOLVED, That the Senate of the State of Texas, 85th |
|
Legislature, hereby pay tribute to the memory of Barbara Smith |
|
Conrad and extend sincere condolences to her loved ones; and, be |
|
it further |
|
|
RESOLVED, That a copy of this Resolution be prepared for |
|
her family and that when the Texas Senate adjourns this day, it do |
|
so in memory of Barbara Smith Conrad. |
|
|
Hughes, Watson |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
________________________________ |
|
|
President of the Senate |
|
|
|
|
|
I hereby certify that the |
|
|
above Resolution was adopted by |
|
|
the Senate on May 27, 2017, by a |
|
|
rising vote. |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
________________________________ |
|
|
Secretary of the Senate |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
________________________________ |
|
|
Member, Texas Senate |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
________________________________ |
|
|
Member, Texas Senate |