Dorothy Maynor

Dorothy Leigh Mainor (September 3, 1910 – February 19, 1996), known as Dorothy Maynor, was an American soprano, concert singer, and the founder of the Harlem School of the Arts. Considered one of the great singers of her generation, Maynor had a voice that was simultaneously sweet and supple and formidably powerful, with a mezza that was "magically ethereal." Maynor is noted as the first African–American to sing at a presidential inauguration, performing at President Harry S. Truman's inaugural gala in 1949.

Biography Early life and education Born Dorothy Leigh Mainor on September 3, 1910 in the town of Norfolk, Virginia, Maynor's parents were the Reverend John J. Mainor, a local African-American Methodist minister and his wife Alice (Jefferson) Mainor. Maynor attended Hampton Institute, a preparatory school and college created for freed Black slaves, where she studied under R. Nathaniel Dett. After her graduation from the Institute in 1933, Maynor received a four-year scholarship to the Westminster Choir School in Princeton, New Jersey.

Career In 1939, Maynor performed at the Berkshire Festival where she was given an audition before Sergei Koussevitzky, conductor of the Boston Symphony Orchestra. She performed Lieder (German art songs), spirituals, and the "Ho-jo-to-ho" aria from Wagner's Die Walküre. Koussevitzky was inspired to proclaim her voice a "miracle" and a "musical revelation" that "the world must hear." In New York, she was taught by voice instructors William Clamroth and John Alan Haughton.

In one particularly noteworthy concert in 1942 in Long Beach, California, Maynor sang during a wartime blackout until the all-clear was given. Maynor's voice transfixed the audience of 4000 people, easing their fears, and after the blackout was lifted, the audience remained for several encores. and at President Dwight D. Eisenhower's 1953 presidential inauguration at DAR Constitution Hall, where the Daughters of the American Revolution famously refused to let Marian Anderson sing in 1939. Though many maintain that Anderson's performance at Eisenhower's 1957 inauguration broke color barriers, Maynor's performances have received comparably less attention, despite predating Anderson by eight years. In 1949, Maynor was featured in an episode of Richard Durham's radio drama Destination Freedom, with Charmaine Anderson playing her character.

In 1964, Maynor founded the Harlem School of the Arts which was designed to give music education at a reduced rate to the mostly Black and Latine children of Harlem. Maynor called it a "cultural oasis in a sea of despair." She conceived the idea of the school when, while at the Savoy dance club in New York, she noticed white musicians scribbling down the intricate rhythms of the Black performers. She resolved at that moment that Black people would learn the disciplines of music to restore the "sound of music" to Harlem's streets and let Black people reap the rewards of their talents. When Maynor started the school, it was a one woman operation, with Maynor serving as administrator, teacher, and janitor. Maynor died on 19 February 1996 in West Chester, Pennsylvania.