Celebrating Black History: Theresa Green Coleman (Voice '50)
“Theresa Green possesses a beautiful voice and combines it with artistic maturity and intelligence. Miss Green proved that she has a real gift of communication besides considerable imagination.”—New York Post
Renowned soprano and Curtis alumna Theresa Green Coleman (Opera ’50) grew up in Baltimore, Maryland. The daughter of Rev. Dr. Joshua Henry Green and church organist Goldie Ianthia Green, Ms. Coleman rose to national and global acclaim during the late 1950s through the early 1970s. She began studying voice at age 12 with a private teacher, then moved to New York City to work with Canadian mezzo-soprano and voice teacher Éva Gauthier before coming to Curtis, where she graduated in the spring of 1950. Here, she was notably selected by Efrem Zimbalist to represent the school in its 25th anniversary program at the Academy of Music, where she sang, in Russian, the role of Tatiana in Tchaikovsky’s Eugene Onegin. Ms. Coleman coached with noted soprano Winifred Cecil before completing her studies at the Juilliard School.
Winner of numerous prizes, Ms. Coleman received the prestigious Marian Anderson Award, a John Hay Whitney Fellowship, and the annual award of the JUGGS, a private foundation for the advancement of outstanding young musical talent. At the JUGGS ceremony, fellow Curtis alumnus Gian Carlo Menotti (Composition ’33) said, “I believe that in Theresa Greene, we have a rare combination of a rich, flexible voice and an exciting temperament.” As a result of winning the Arthur Godfrey Talent Scout TV program, she was presented three times by Mr. Godfrey, who was immensely impressed with her talent and performances. 
Following her New York debut recital at Town Hall—the result of her JUGGS prize—which elevated her reputation in the classical music world and catapulted her to stardom as “a voice of real beauty” and “a new artist of importance” (New York Times) Ms. Coleman toured throughout the United States, from Boston and Philadelphia to Washington, D.C. and her hometown of Baltimore, garnering rave reviews at each stop. In 1965, she was invited to appear at the White House to sing at the Inaugural Concert of President Lyndon B. Johnson, joining pianist Van Cliburn, baritone Todd Duncan, violinist Isaac Stern, and the National Symphony Orchestra for this significant moment.
When she made her European concert debut, critics in Germany, Austria, Holland, and Sweden were unanimous in their praise, heaping superlatives on the young artist. “A gracious beauty, and what a voice!” exclaimed one Stockholm critic. Under Columbia Artists Management, Ms. Coleman went on to perform under the batons of renowned conductors including Leonard Bernstein; Erich Leinsdorf; and violinist, composer, conductor, and director of the Curtis Institute of Music Efrem Zimbalist, during an international career that lasted many decades.
Theresa Green Coleman passed away at age 95 in Minneapolis on June 25, 2020.
Please visit the Curtis Institute of Music Open Archives and Recitals (CIMOAR). Learn more about Curtis’s library and archives HERE.
Photo Credits: 1 & 5.) Portraits of Theresa Green Coleman courtesy of the Detroit Public Library digital collections; James Abresch. 2.) Louise Parker (Filipjevna) and Theresa Green (Tatjana) in a January 6, 1949 performance of Eugene Onegin, Scene II, Act I, presented alongside a performance of Franco Leoni’s one-act opera L’Oracolo at the Academy of Music; Curtis Institute of Music Archives. 4.) Promotional photo issued by Columbia Artists Management; photographer uncredited.
