Her home town of Enid has a street named after her called Leona Mitchell Boulevard, as well as the Leona Mitchell Southern Heights Heritage Center and Museum. Governor Brad Henry of Oklahoma made her Oklahoma's State Cultural Ambassador.
Early life and education
Mitchell started singing at an early age in the choir of the Antioch Church of God in Christ in Enid, where her father, Reverend Dr. Hulon Mitchell, was the Minister along with her mother, Dr. Pearl Olive Mitchell (née Leatherman), who was the pianist. Leona was the tenth-born of Hulon and Pearl Mitchell's 15 children.[2]
Leona Mitchell received a BA in music from Oklahoma City University where she was a student of Inez Silberg.[3] She went on to graduate studies at the Juilliard School of Music in New York. She married Elmer Bush III, by whom she had one son, Elmer Bush IV.[4]
Professional career
In 1973, she made her debut as Micaela in Georges Bizet's 1875 opera Carmen with the San Francisco Opera, subsequently she made her Metropolitan Opera debut in New York City on December 15, 1975 in the same role. She sang [when?] the role of Bess in the first complete recording of George Gershwin'sPorgy and Bess from which she received a Grammy for "Best Opera Recording".
Mitchell has contributed to several recordings, had many television appearances, and served as honorary chair for Black Heritage Month to the Oklahoma legislature.
She was a leading soprano with the Metropolitan Opera of New York for 18 seasons. She sang at most of the world's best-known opera houses in such roles as Turandot, Aida, Micaela, Manon, Leonora, Amalia Delilah, Mimi, and Musetta, as well as Pamina, Madama Butterfly, Lauretta, and Madame Lidoine.