Grace Bumbry, rejected from a US music school for her race, attained greatness overseas. She has died at 86.

Grace Bumbry was a musical prodigy, excelling at piano and voice at a young age. But she was denied entry to a St. Louis conservatory because she was Black. After college, she left for Europe where she would become a ground-breaker on the international opera stage, marking a first for female singers of African descent across the world. The World’s Marco Werman fills us in on the extraordinary career and life of the mezzo-soprano.

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