Star soprano Leontyne Price (born 1927) was born Mary Violet Leontine Price on this day in Laurel, Mississippi. A trailblazing African American artist, Price helped open doors in opera and reminded the world, “Accomplishments have no color.”

Love for music began early with the gift of a piano at age five. Price remembered feeling “center stage” from the beginning, as if vocation arrived with the first touch of keys.

After study at the Juilliard School in New York City, Price appeared in Virgil Thomson’s opera Four Saints in Three Acts (1952) and soon took on the role of Bess in Porgy and Bess. Opera audiences heard both power and tenderness, a voice built from work, not shortcuts.

In 1961, Price made a celebrated debut at the Metropolitan Opera in Il Trovatore. Accounts of the ovation became legend, not only for length, but for what the moment represented: presence, excellence, and the widening of possibility.

Price spoke plainly about craft. “Art is the only thing you cannot punch a button for,” Price said. “Stay up and really burn the midnight oil. There are no compromises.” The statement carries a kind of discipline that protects a dream.

When retirement came, Price chose dignity. “I prefer to leave standing up, like a well-mannered guest at a party.” Leaving can be an art, too.