ANGELA GHEORGHIU

The 32nd Annual Kennedy Center Honors awards ceremony.......Each year this Ceremony fills me with tears of happiness and this year, in particular, I was overwhelmed with emotion to see the President and First Lady surrounded by talent that I admire, deeply......And....what a wonderful show it is! Grace Brumby was the first great Operatic Singer in my cultural experience.....I had heard Eileen Farrell on old recordings at home as a teenager, but it was Grace that brought it home to me.....I rushed to Arnold Hornbuckle's Music Shoppe to purchase her recording of "CARMEN JONES", only to find NO recordings by black artists....not even Lena Horne or Billie Holliday! In 1963, in Nashville, I discovered.....next to Maria Callas' Carmen.........Grace! At the Kennedy awards, Ms. Brumby's eyes welled with tears as Angela Gheorghiu sang in her honor.......