Dido Removed
A state legislator reached into a student opera, and the singer he got removed stayed on to graduate.
Listen to this place’s story in Peplos.
How the story begins
Two weeks before opening night, in the spring of 1957, Barbara Smith was told she would not sing Dido. She was nineteen. She had been rehearsing for months for the University of Texas production of Dido and Aeneas. She was one of the first Black undergraduates on this campus, cast as a queen opposite a white student as her lover. Once that became public she got threatening calls, and a man spat on her on campus.
The rest is in the app. Peplos plays the full story when you reach the place. You can also listen ahead of time.
Visiting
University of Texas campus, Austin. Open campus, exterior only.
Sources
- Barbara Smith Conrad, opera singer, obituary, New York Times via AfriClassical, 2017
- Barbara Smith Conrad, Humanities Texas
- UT grieves loss of opera star alumna Barbara Smith Conrad, University of Texas, 2017
- Barbara Smith Conrad, Texas State Cemetery
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