Denyce Graves
Opera Singer
Mezzo-soprano singer best known for her leading roles in the operas Carmen and Samson et Delila. She also performed at the Washington National Cathedral in a 2001 service dedicated to the victims of the September 11 terrorist attacks.
After training at the New England Conservatory and the Oberlin Conservatory of Music, she debuted (in 1995) at New York City's Metropolitan Opera.
She taught voice at Baltimore, Maryland's Peabody Conservatory of Music.
She was married twice -- to musician David Perry and physician Robert Montgomery -- and had one daughter through a relationship with French musician Vincent Thomas.
She performed in a 2009 concert dedicated to fellow African-American opera singer Marian Anderson.