One of the first African American singers to conquer the international opera stage, soprano/mezzo-soprano Grace Bumbry has died. Her career spanned some 40 years.

Born into humble circumstances in 1937 – her father was a railway clerk and her mother was a teacher – she grew up in segregated St. Louis, learning early on that if she hoped to pursue her dreams, she would have to get out.

As a teen, she entered a radio contest for a shot at a scholarship to the now-defunct St. Louis Institute of Music. It was a blind competition, with Bumbry singing from behind a screen. After she was declared the winner, the conservatory declined to admit her because of her race. They offered to give her private lessons instead. She declined and received scholarships to study at Boston University and Northwestern University, where she attended masterclasses with Lotte Lehmann. She followed Lehmann to the Music Academy of the West in Santa Barbara.

Bumbry launched her career in Europe at a time when Marian Anderson (from whom she received encouragement) and Leontyne Price were blazing trails at home.

She also had the support of Jacqueline Kennedy, who may have had a hand in her debut at the Paris Opera House in 1960, as Amneris in Verdi’s “Aida.” Two years later, Bumbry was invited to the White House to perform at a state dinner.

In 1961, she made headlines as the first Black singer to perform at the Bayreuth Festival, dedicated to the works of Richard Wagner. (We all know how enlightened Wagner was in matters of race.) Bumbry was cast as Venus, the goddess of love, in “Tannhäuser.” She received 42 curtain calls, and the ovation lasted some 30 minutes.

Then she signed a contract with Sol Hurok, manager of Arthur Rubinstein and Isaac Stern, and he saw to it that she became a star on both sides of the Atlantic.

She achieved success in the mezzo roles of Carmen, Delila, and Princess Eboli, and the soprano roles of Salome, Norma, Tosca, and Medea, among others.

Her Metropolitan Opera debut was as Eboli in Verdi’s “Don Carlo” in 1965. In 1985, when “Porgy and Bess” finally made it to the Met, she sang opposite Simon Estes. It was a long journey for “Porgy.” The opera was first performed on Broadway 50 years earlier.

Bumbry sang in the world’s leading opera houses, was widely decorated, and left behind many fine recordings. She died yesterday in Vienna at the age of 86.

O don fatale from Verdi’s “Don Carlo”

As Carmen

The Black Venus of Bayreuth

As Amneris

As Salome, serenading the head of Jochanaan

R.I.P.