BREAKING
COLOR BARRIERS
BLESSED WITH VOCAL COLOR
I understand god shows no partiality (Acts 10:35)
Simon steadfastly believes he was created in God’s image and his creator chose for him to be born black. Because, as Simon likes to say, “There’s only one race – the human race.” God also blessed Simon with the “color” of his voice and his rare tone and range. It’s a gift Simon has used for decades to give back to less fortunate members of our human race.
Growing up in Centerville, Iowa during the Jim Crow era presented many obstacles, but Simon saw them as strength-building tests. Unfortunately, as a person of color the opera world presented added challenges. For over a century, top opera companies did not cast blacks in lead roles. Instead, they darkened white singers with makeup called “Indian Red” and “Otello Brown” for parts like Otello.
Sadly, American opera companies were particularly slow to cast blacks even in parts written as people of color. Like many black artists Simon got his big break in Europe and only years later sang in the U.S. alongside other opera greats like Placido Domingo and Luciano Pavarotti. And today, he is recognized for his philanthropy as much as his singing by Washington’s political elite.
BREAKING THE OPERA COLOR BARRIER
Although black singers Camilla Williams and Marian Anderson had individual performances at the Met, it was the career of Leontyne Price that truly broke the color barrier at the Metropolitan Opera for both male and female singers. Simon ultimately performed opposite Leontyne Price in Aida, ironically with the younger Estes playing her father. Fittingly, he was in this role for Price’s farewell Met performance in 1985.
As Leontyne then told Simon, “It’s going to be even more difficult for you. Because you are a black male, the discrimination will be even greater. You have a beautiful voice, you are musical, intelligent, independent, and handsome. With all those traits you are a threat. It will be much more difficult for you than it was for me.”
PUTTING A NEW FACE ON OPERA
For many decades black men were never cast in lead roles in operas – especially in lead romantic roles performing with a white female lead. Instead, if the character was a dark skinned person, many famous white opera singers have worn “black-face” makeup. Ironically, in 1965, in Simon’s opera debut playing Ramfis in Aida, he was forced to wear whiteface for the role. It wasn’t just pale, but ghostly white. As Simon tells it with admirable humor, “I was whiter than my shirt and six shades lighter than all the white performers. Why the audience didn’t just roar with laughter when I made my entrance, I’ll never know.”
But Simon persevered, singing in any opera roles he could get, mainly in Europe. In 1968 he got the lead role of Carter Jones in the Visitation in San Francisco. But in 1978, Simon became the first African American to open at the world famous Bayreuth Music Festival as The Flying Dutchman in the opera of the same name. Wolfgang Wagner, the grandson of Richard Wagner, the composer of The Flying Dutchman, cast him in the role because of his outstanding voice.
In 1982 Simon finally got his chance to sing at the Metropolitan Opera as Landgraf in Wagner’s Tannhäuser, becoming the first African American in history to perform a leading role at the Met. And then on February 6, 1985, when the Metropolitan Opera premiered its first ever performance of Porgy and Bess (50 years after the opera had its world premiere on Broadway) Simon was cast as Porgy along side Grace Bumbry as Bess.
ARRESTED FOR DRIVING WHILE BLACK
For nearly 30 years, The Negro Motorist Green Book was a guide to safe ports of call for Black travelers. In 1964, the Civil Rights Act banned segregation in restaurants and hotels, but the risk of “driving while black” remained intact. Even for world renowned opera singers.
While performing in Germany in the early 1970’s Simon bought a Mercedes at the factory and shipped it to the USA. The first time he was driving to a rehearsal he was pulled over. The officer said he had foreign plates. Simon explained why. The officer demanded proof of ownership. Simon provided a valid registration. The officer demanded the bill of sale. When Simon could not provide this, he was taken to the station. After his attorney cleared up the matter, Simon was released by an indignant captain. Over the nine weeks of the performance Simon was stopped 10 more times.
The introduction to the first Green Book said, “There will be a day sometime in the near future when this guide will not have to be published. That is when we as a race will have equal opportunities and privileges in the United States.” To echo Dr. King, “If America is to be a great nation, this must become true.”