Denyce Graves, one of Justice Ginsburg’s favorite opera singers, performs for her one last time.

Sept. 25, 2020   By Zachary Woolfe
Video   TRANSCRIPT

Opera Singer Denyce Graves Performs at Justice Ginsburg’s Memorial
Denyce Graves, one of Justice Bader Ginsburg’s favorite opera singers, performed on Friday during the Capitol ceremony.

Singing: All we’ve been given by those who came before . The dream of a nation where freedom would endure. The work and prayers for centuries have brought us to this day. What will be our legacy? What will our children say? Let them say of me I was one who believed in sharing the blessings I received. Let me know in my heart when my days are through, America, America, I gave my best to you.

Justice Ginsburg was a passionate opera fan from her youth, and one of her favorite singers, the American mezzo-soprano Denyce Graves, sang for her one last time on Friday at the Capitol ceremony.

Ms. Graves, her voice reverberating off the marble of Statuary Hall, performed the spiritual 'Deep River' and Gene Scheer’s 'American Anthem.'

A Washington native, Ms. Graves, 56, became famous as a sultry Carmen in Bizet’s opera. She and Laura Ward, her piano accompanist on Friday, also performed at the funeral of Justice Ginsburg’s husband, Marty, in 2010.

After Justice Ginsburg saw her first opera — a condensed version of “La Gioconda” in 1944, when she was 11 — she was immediately hooked, becoming the kind of aficionado who went to dress rehearsals, then opening nights and then closing nights, too, for good measure.

“Most of the time, even when I go to sleep, I’m thinking about legal problems,” she said in 2015. “But when I go to the opera, I’m just lost in it.”

It was a love she shared with Justice Antonin Scalia, her Supreme Court colleague, friend and ideological antagonist; an opera, “Scalia/Ginsburg,” was written in 2015 about their relationship. The two shared the stage on occasion as (silent) supernumeraries, though in 2016 Justice Ginsburg also had a turn in the speaking role of the Duchess of Krakenthorp in Donizetti’s “La Fille du Régiment” at Washington National Opera.

“She was our greatest advocate and our greatest spokesperson,” that company’s director, Francesca Zambello, told The New York Times. “She carried this art form.”



Rabbi Lauren Holtzblatt at U.S. Capitol Memorial Service for Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg

https://www.c-span.org/video/?c4909762/user-clip-rabbi-lauren-holtzblatt-us-capitol-memorial-service-justice-ruth-bader-ginsburg

Rabbi Lauren Holtzblatt at U.S. Capitol Memorial Service for Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg. She sings a melody for Psalms 118:5 that was composed by Joey Weisenberg




Denyce Graves (born March 7, 1964) is an American operatic mezzo-soprano.

'Deep River,' sung by Denyce Graves


https://www.c-span.org/video/?c4909775/user-clip-deep-river-sung-denyce-graves

The parallels between Exodus and Emancipation are obvious in this traditional freedom song, as are Jewish and Black struggles and triumphs