Portia White

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Portia White (June 24, 1911 – February 13, 1968) was a Canadian operatic contralto.

Early life and family

Portia May White was born in Truro, Nova Scotia, third of 13 children born to Izie Dora (White) and William Andrew White. While her father was the son of former slaves from Virginia, she moved to Canada independently. William enrolled Acadia University in Nova Scotia and later graduated from Acadia with a Doctorate of Divinity. Following the First World War, the White family migrated to Halifax, and William became the minister of Cornwallis Street Baptist Church.

Several other members of Portia White's family continued to excel in Canadian political and cultural life, including Jack, a well-known Canadian labour union leader; Bill, Canada's first African-born politician; and Lorne, a regular performer for television show Singalong Jubilee. Senator Donald Oliver, a senator, and political commentator Sheila White became aunts.

Portia White began her singing career at the age of six as a choir member of the Cornwallis Street Baptist Church, where her mother was also the musical director. As White grew older, she became the choir director and assisted with church fundraising by appearing on her father's weekly radio show. White shared that her passion for music and performing had existed in an interview later in life: she said in an interview later in life that it was revealed that her interest in music and performing had arisen early: she was a child of the Beatles.

White and her sister June competed in a local singing competition, the two performers performing an aria from Donizetti's Lucia di Lammermoor as a youth. They were selected first prize. Although White wanted to pursue a singing career, she couldn't afford professional training at the time.

In 1929, White began attending Dalhousie University, where he trained to be a teacher. White began paying for vocal lessons in Africville and Lucasville, two small Halifax towns that were predominately Black Nova Scotian, in the 1930s, and during this period, she continued to teach in Africville and Lucasville, two small Halifax villages that were predominately Black Nova Scotian, and during this period, she was able to start paying for vocal lessons. She competed regularly at the Halifax Music Festival, winning the Helen Kennedy Silver Cup in 1935, 1937, and 1938, before the festival's officials decided to award her the cup a permanent basis.

In 1939, White received a grant to continue her musical studies at the Halifax Conservatory of Music with noted Italian baritone Ernesto Vinci, and Vinci taught her how to perform in bel canto vocal style. White gave her first formal recital shortly after the Second World War, and she continued to perform in concerts and radio shows. She has received trophies at provincial music festivals, and Edith Read, a visiting headmistress from a Toronto school who has offered to offer new performing opportunities for White, was awarded an award in mid-1941.

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Singing career and later life

White, 30, made her national debut as a singer in Toronto at the Eaton Auditorium in November 1941, with the support of Read. Viewers were overwhelmingly impressed by her appearance, even getting a career management job from Oxford University Press the day after. Despite experiencing bigotry in seeking new performance dates, White toured Canada later this year, appearing at venues that included the Governor General's Rideau Hall residence.

White performed classical European music and African-American spirituals, as well as works by Harry T. Burleigh, which were a regular part of her concert repertoire. White performed in Italian, German, French, and Spanish, among other things, and her three-octave range received critical acclaim. White's "pungent expression and beauty of utterance," according to Hector Charlesworth's essay in The Globe and Mail, while a Toronto Evening Telegram reporter said she had a "colored and beautifully shaded contralto." It's a natural voice and a gift from heaven." When compared to Marian Anderson, a well-known American contralto, White was compared to her.

White made her international debut in New York City in 1944, becoming the first Canadian to perform at the Town Hall performance space in New York. Edward Johnson, the Metropolitan Opera general manager, made her international debut in New York City. The New York Times described her appearance as "remarkable," and New York Herald Tribune writer Paul Bowles said "White, contralto, shocked the world that she not only has a dazzling vocal instrument, but also has the skills and intelligence to do what she wants with it."

White has since appeared at many more concerts around the country. Nova Scotia and Halifax donated new financial assistance to the up-and-coming actor, who purchased a white fox cape for White to wear at performances. She began working with Columbia Concerts Incorporated in 1945. In 1946, she sang in France and Switzerland, and later, a three-month tour of Central and South America and the Caribbean followed. White was the first Black Canadian concert artist to achieve international prominence.

White's early retirement from public performance in 1952 culminated due to a mixture of vocal difficulties, an exhausting itinerary, and the possibility of breast cancer diagnosis. White, who was also a vocal instructor, went on to instruct some of Canada's up-and-coming musical talents, and her students included singers Lorne Greene, Dinah Christie, Don Francks, Robert Goulet, Anne Marie Moss, and Judith Lander. White appeared in Halifax for a few rare performances during the 1950s; although she announced her intention to return to full-time singing, her return to the concert circuit never fully materialized. At the opening of the Confederation Centre of the Arts in Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island, she performed in a command performance for Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip. This was one of her last major concerts.

White died in Toronto on February 13, 1968, at the age of 56.

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