Benjamin Matthews
*Benjamin Matthews was born on this date in 1933. He was a Black classical (bass-baritone) singer and opera administrator.
Benjamin Matthews was born in Prichard, Alabama. After moving to Chicago for high school, he enlisted in the Army, where he won second place in an all-Army singing contest. After the military, he joined the Chicago Conservatory, studying opera with Boris Goldovsky. Matthews made his debut at the Chicago Civic Opera.
He appeared in the Metropolitan Opera's chamber production of Virgil Thomson's Four Saints in Three Acts, the New York City Opera, Austria's Graz Opera, Milwaukee's Florentine Opera, as well as the New York Philharmonic Orchestra, Chicago Symphony Orchestra, Baltimore Symphony, and others. His repertoire was wide and varied and included the roles of Mephistopheles in Charles Gounod's Faust and Gershwin's Porgy; solo roles in cantatas and oratorios by Handel, J.S. Bach, and Mendelssohn's Elijah; and Black spirituals and work songs.
He made his City Opera debut in Leon Kirchner's opera Lily, based on the novel Henderson the Rain King, in 1977. He appeared in a recital at Carnegie Hall in 1986. He also sang frequently with the Collegiate Chorale. Matthews also collected African American music and performed it in recitals and masterclasses globally, emphasizing the performance style of spirituals, work songs, Creole music, and neglected Black composers.
In 1973, Matthews co-founded Opera Ebony, a New York-based company devoted to African American operatic repertoire, with the pianist Wayne Sanders; he served as artistic director until his death. Opera Ebony provided him with another platform for championing Black artists, whether by presenting an all-Black cast in Faust or by commissioning new operas based on the lives of notable Black historical figures, such as Frederick Douglass and Harriet Tubman. The company's many premieres included Matthews' Oh Freedom, written with Lena McLin, and Journin'. The company, which continues to perform regularly, also revived a piece by William Grant Still. He died on February 14, 2006.
