Miss Lenora Lafayette, B.M., Soprano

"Miss Lafayette, a native Baton Rougean and a graduate of McKinley High School was born July 6, 1926, to Howard and Lena Lafayette.  She continued her formal academic pursuits at Fisk University in Nashville, Tennessee where she earned the Bachelor of Music Degree in Voice.  Her music career began auspiciously when as a high school junior she sang Italian Street Song during an assembly.  The audience reacted so vigorously, the principal asked her to sing it again, her first encore.  She won the Marian Anderson award in Philadelphia.  She next won the Julius Rosenwald Fellowship in Chicago.  This award allowed her to study at the Julliard School of Music in New York City.  Her next award was the John Hay Whitney Fellowship which allowed her to study opera in Europe.  She received a grant from the Louisiana State Board of Education which gave her some financial support to assist in language studies, an essential skill in operatic singing.  Miss Lafayette made her operatic debut as Aida in Aida at the Basel (Switzerland) Opera House.  The reaction to the performance was so enthusiastic; she did a command performance a month later.  The reaction to this performance was so exuberant, that she was signed for the entire season!  She next journeyed to London where she enjoyed the same kind of success with the Royal Opera Company and the Royal Symphony.  She spent the major portion of her professional career performing on stages and opera houses across Europe.  Sadly she died of cancer on October 23, 1975."

Source:  “The First Annual South Baton Rouge Black History Recognition Program”- Author – Ms. Helen Turner Rutledge, February 27, 1993