Retired IU professor, opera singer Camilla Williams died Sunday

Renowned opera singer and retired professor Camilla Williams died Sunday, according to the Jacobs School of Music. She was 92.

“The Jacobs School of Music is saddened by the death of opera star Camilla Williams,” the school tweeted early Monday.

In 1954, Williams became the first African-American to have a major role with the
Vienna State Opera.

Williams was also the first African-American professor of voice to work in the
music school.

Her accomplishments and accolades for her talents and services to the University accumulated throughout her time at IU.

Williams was a recipient of IU’s President’s Medal for Excellence, as well as the Sagamore of the Wabash, the highest honor the governor of Indiana can bestow. Indiana State Rep. Peggy Welch, D-Bloomington, presented the award to Williams at the Black History Month Gala on Feb. 27, 2010.

Retiring from the opera stage in 1971, Williams became a professor of voice at Brooklyn College and Bronx College until 1973. Her teaching career took her to Queens College in 1974, and she also began working with the group Talent Unlimited.

Williams began teaching on the IU-Bloomington campus in 1977 and remained in her position until her retirement in 1997.

Those she worked with said she was an inspiring force and a master of her
own craft.

“Camilla Williams was an incredible inspiration to generations of singers around the world,” said Marietta Simpson, a professor in the Jacobs School of Music.
“Her outstanding artistry and inner strength enabled her to rise above the clouds of racism as she was received on many of the world’s concert and operatic stages.”  

Simpson said the sheer beauty of Williams’ voice and her enduring faith will forever be etched in the hearts and memories of the many young singers she inspired through her singing, teaching and mentoring.

“She was a great gift to the world and a precious and treasured member of the Jacobs School of Music family,” Simpson said.