Clamma Dale - Biography

Biography

Born and raised in Chester, Pennsylvania, Dale's father was a jazz musician and it is from him that she received much of her early musical training. She played the clarinet, cello, saxophone, piano, and guitar during her youth in addition to singing in choirs at school. She studied music at Philadelphia's Settlement Music School and then pursued voice studies at the Juilliard School in New York City and graduated in 1970; her teachers included Hans Heinz, Alice Howland, and Cornelius Reid. She went on to earn her master's from Juilliard in 1975. After graduating from school she worked as a first grade music teacher in Brooklyn until her singing career began to take off.

Dale made her professional opera debut on February 20, 1973 as St. Teresa I in Virgil Thomson's Four Saints in Three Acts at the Vivian Beaumont Theater in a production mounted by the Metropolitan Opera. In 1974 she portrayed Bess for the first time at the Los Angeles Civic Light Opera. In 1975 she won the Walter W. Naumburg Foundation's music competition which led to her New York City recital debut at Town Hall in May 1976. In 1975 she signed a three-year contract with the New York City Opera (NYCO) and made her NYCO debut in October 1975 as Antonia in Jacques Offenbach's Les Contes d'Hoffmann. She returned to the NYCO several times in the late 1970s to portray such roles as the Countess in Mozart's The Marriage of Figaro and Nedda in Leoncavallo's Pagliacci.

Dale first drew wide acclaim in 1976 for her portrayal of Bess at the Houston Grand Opera; a production which went on to a highly successful run at first the Uris Theatre and then the Mark Hellinger Theatre on Broadway in 1976-1977. In 1977 she performed as a soloist with the New York Philharmonic in the premiere of Leonard Bernstein's Songfest in Washington D.C. In 1980 she sang in a gala concert celebrating the 35th anniversary of the United Nations. That same year she sang Giulietta and Antonia in Les Contes d'Hoffmann for her debut at the Opéra national du Rhin, Nedda for her debut with the Opera Company of Philadelphia, and both the title role in Aida and Leonora in Il Trovatore at the opera house in Bogota.

In 1983 Dale made her first appearance at the Opéra National de Paris as Fata Morgana in The Love for Three Oranges. She spent the next several years working in various opera houses in Paris, singing roles like Liu in Puccini's Turandot, Musetta in Puccini's La bohème, Pamina in The Magic Flute, and the one-woman tour de force of the bloodthirsty title character in Erzsebet, an opera by Charles Chaynes. In 1986 she appeared at the Opéra national de Lorraine. In 1988 she sang Bess for her debut at the Theater des Westens in Berlin. The following year she portrayed Liu at the Deutsche Oper Berlin.

Dale has also given many recitals throughout her career including two recitals resulting from winning the Walter W. Naumburg voice competition. She has given recitals at Alice Tully Hall and Carnegie Hall among other places. She has also made several appearances at the White House. In 1991 she sang the world premiere of John Duffy's Time for Remembrance with the Honolulu Symphony for the commemoration of the 50th anniversary of the attack on Pearl Harbor.

In 2011 Clamma Dale attended cosmetology school at Destination Academy in Las Vegas, Nevada. She is currently in Baltimore, MD practicing for upcoming performances as a soprano.