Barbara McAlister (opera singer)

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Barbara McAlister (born 1942) is an internationally acclaimed mezzo-soprano Native American opera singer from Muskogee, Oklahoma.

A mezzo-soprano or mezzo (, ; Italian: [ˈmɛddzo soˈpraːno] meaning "half soprano") is a type of classical female singing voice whose vocal range lies between the soprano and the contralto voice types. The mezzo-soprano's vocal range usually extends from the A below middle C to the A two octaves above (i.e. A3–A5 in scientific pitch notation, where middle C = C4; 220–880 Hz). In the lower and upper extremes, some mezzo-sopranos may extend down to the F below middle C (F3, 175 Hz) and as high as "high C" (C6, 1047 Hz). The mezzo-soprano voice type is generally divided into the coloratura, lyric, and dramatic mezzo-soprano.

Muskogee, Oklahoma City in Oklahoma, United States

Muskogee is a city in and the county seat of Muskogee County, Oklahoma, United States. Home to Bacone College, it lies approximately 48 miles southeast of Tulsa. The population of the city was 39,223 as of the 2010 census, a 2.4 percent increase from 38,310 at the 2000 census, making it the eleventh-largest city in Oklahoma.

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Background

Barbara McAlister was born Muskogee, Oklahoma in 1942. [1] She is an enrolled member of the Cherokee Nation, a descendant of Old Tassel, and half German/Cherokee through her mother. She aspired to be a country-western singer in her youth, but learned to love opera from her parents. [1]

Cherokee Nation Domestic dependent nation

The Cherokee Nation, also known as the Cherokee Nation of Oklahoma, is the largest of three Cherokee federally recognized tribes in the United States. It was established in the 20th century and includes people descended from members of the Old Cherokee Nation who relocated from the Southeast due to increasing pressure to Indian Territory and Cherokee who were forced to relocate on the Trail of Tears. The tribe also includes descendants of Cherokee Freedmen and Natchez Nation. Over 299,862 people are enrolled in the Cherokee Nation, with 189,228 living within the state of Oklahoma. According to Larry Echo Hawk, former head of the Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA), the current Cherokee Nation is not the historical Cherokee tribe but instead a "successor in interest".

Old Tassel, , was "First Beloved Man" of the Overhill Cherokee after 1783. He continuously tried to keep the Cherokee people of the Overhill region out of the Cherokee–American wars being fought at the time between the American frontiersmen and the Chickamauga warriors under Dragging Canoe. He was murdered under a flag of truce while defending his tribe from white settlers.

For her dedication to promoting the Cherokee language, she was awarded the Cherokee Medal of Honor from the Cherokee Honor Society. [2]

Musical career

She won the Loren Zachary Competition in Los Angeles, California, which launched her career. [3] She has since performed in the opera houses of Passau, Koblenz, Bremerhaven, and most notably Flensburg, where she was engaged for a decade. She has given solo performances at Carnegie Hall, Alice Tully Hall, and the Weil Recital Hall, and has performed with companies throughout Europe and the United States. [3]

Passau Place in Bavaria, Germany

Passau is a town in Lower Bavaria, Germany, also known as the Dreiflüssestadt because the Danube is joined there by the Inn from the south and the Ilz from the north.

Koblenz Place in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany

Koblenz, spelled Coblenz before 1926, is a German city situated on both banks of the Rhine where it is joined by the Moselle.

Bremerhaven Place in Bremen, Germany

Bremerhaven is a city at the seaport of the Free Hanseatic City of Bremen, a state of the Federal Republic of Germany.

Visual arts

Barbara also paints in the Bacone style of flat-style Native painting from Prairie, Plains, and Eastern tribes. [4] She has exhibited her paintings at the Five Civilized Tribes Museum and Jacobson House Native Arts Center in Oklahoma, the Wharton Art Gallery in Philadelphia, and Bullock's in Los Angeles. [3]

Five Civilized Tribes Museum

The Five Civilized Tribes Museum is a museum in Muskogee, Oklahoma that houses the art, history and culture of the Cherokee, Chickasaw, Choctaw, Muscogee (Creek), and Seminole tribes. Housed in the historic Union Indian Agency building, the museum was opened in 1966.

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Muskogee County, Oklahoma County in the United States

Muskogee County is a county located in the U.S. state of Oklahoma. As of the 2010 census, the population was 70,990. The county seat is Muskogee. The county and city were named for the Muscogee (Creek) Nation. The official spelling of the name was changed to Muskogee by the post office in 1900.

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References

  1. 1 2 Conley, Robert J. A Cherokee encyclopedia. Albuquerque: University of New Mexico Press, 2007: 147-8. (retrieved through Google Books, 7 April 2009) ISBN   978-0-8263-3951-5.
  2. Duvall, Deborah L. Tahlequah and the Cherokee Nation. Charleston, SC: Arcadia Publishing, 2000: 112. ISBN   0-7385-0782-2.
  3. 1 2 3 Resume. Barbara McAlister. (retrieved 7 April 2009)
  4. Williams, John L. "Bacone College." Archived April 17, 2010, at the Wayback Machine Oklahoma History Center's Encyclopedia of Oklahoma History and Culture. (retrieved 6 Nov 2009)