New York City Opera

The New York City Opera (NYCO) is based in Philip Johnson's New York State Theater at Lincoln Center. The company was founded in 1944 with the aim of an opera company that would be financially accessible to a wide audience, innovative in its choice of repertory, and a home for American singers and composers. In its early years, the NYCO's home base was the City Center on West 55th Street. In 1945, the company became the first major opera company to have an African American performer. This was in the production of Leoncavallo's Pagliacci with Todd Duncan's performance as Tonio. Lawrence Winters was another notable African American opera pioneer to sing with the company during this period. The first African American woman to sing with the company was Camilla Williams, soprano as Madama Butterfly in 1946. (Southern, 417) Winters and Williams later went on to sing the title roles in the most complete recording made up to that time of Gershwin's Porgy and Bess, for Columbia Masterworks... full article at wikipedia