Grammy Award-winning soprano Leona Mitchell is set to return to New York for the first time in nearly 30 years in a live performance at the St. Jean Theater on April 19.

Mitchell will offer the audience an evening of arias, Spirituals, pop, Broadway, and jazz. In addition to her performance, Mitchell will conduct a masterclass and audience-led Q&A at Opera America on April 21, at 5:30 pm. The masterclass and Q & A are hosted
by the Black Music Archive and the Black Leadership Arts Collective.

For 18 seasons Mitchell performed leading spinto soprano roles at the Metropolitan Opera. She is admired for her interpretations of Micaëla in Bizet’s “Carmen,” Bess in Gershwin’s “Porgy and Bess,” as well as for roles by Puccini and Verdi. In her home state she was inducted into the Oklahoma Hall of Fame, the Oklahoma Music Hall of Fame, the Oklahoma Women’s Hall of Fame and the Oklahoma Jazz Hall of Fame. Mitchell received a BA in music from Oklahoma City University and Master’s degree from the Juilliard School, along with honorary doctorates from Oklahoma City University and the University of Oklahoma.