Music: Double Launching

Negro singers are still rare enough in grand opera to be news to the public and to make managers self-conscious about what roles to give them. Two possible answers: Carmen, the gypsy girl, and Aïda, the Ethiopian slave. But they are also taxing debut parts, both vocally and dramatically. Last week, on opera stages 4.000 miles apart, two of the most promising of the U.S.'s young Negro singers appeared in Carmen and Aïda to audience cheers.

¶ Brooklyn-born Gloria Davy, 25, made her first musical splash four years ago as the replacement for Leontyne...

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