’s illustrious opera career and extraordinary artistry was honored at her public funeral. So was Jessye Norman the loyal friend, the humanitarian, the teacher and the person not only celebrated for her golden voice, but for her heart of gold.
“It made me feel connected to something bigger than myself,” Fishburne said, adding that his black-and-white photo of Norman revealed someone energetic, whimsical and vulnerable. “So I am here at the request of Jessye’s family to grieve with you, to say thank you to God for sharing her with us and the world, to celebrate her life, her good words, her accomplishments, and to praise her for using her talents, her gift, her compassion, her intellect to lift all of us up a little higher.
“When she arrived, when she made an entrance, we knew that God had blessed us with a majestic diva,” he continued. “When she spoke it was tremendous. She spoke unafraid and unapologetic about being black in America, yet she attained the summit and the heights of ecstatic proclamation as one of the world’s greatest singers — and yet she never forgot where she came from.”
Norman was a wide-ranging performer who knew no limits. She sang at such revered houses as La Scala and the Metropolitan Opera, performing title roles in works like and more. She sang the works of Wagner, but was not limited to opera or classical music, performing songs by Duke Ellington and others as well. In an interview she profoundly said, “Pigeonholing is only interesting to pigeons.”