, Feb. 7 1951]]William Caesar Warfield (22 January 1920 - 26 August 2002),
concert baritone singer, was born in West Helena, Arkansas and grew up in
Rochester, New York, where his father was called to serve as pastor of Mt.
Vernon Church. He gave his recital debut in New York's Town Hall on March
19, 1950. He was quickly invited by the Australian Broadcasting
Corporation to tour that continent for 35 concerts. In 1952, Warfield
performed in Porgy and Bess during a tour of Europe sponsored by the U.S.
State Department (he made six separate tours for the US Department of
State, more than any other American solo artist.) In this production he
played opposite the opera star Leontyne Price, whom he soon married, but
the demands of two separate careers left them little time together. They
divorced in 1972, but were featured together in a 1963 studio recording of
excerpts from Porgy and Bess.
Warfield was a graduate of the Eastman School of Music.
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William Warfield,