Wayne State music alum George Shirley receives National Medal of Arts

Operatic tenor George Shirley, WSU '56, was named by President Barack Obama this week as a recipient of the National Medal of Arts, our nation's highest award for artists and arts patrons. Given annually since 1984, the National Medal of Arts is awarded by the president, who selects recipients from a list of nominees assembled by the National Endowment for the Arts and reviewed by the National Council on the Arts. Learn more about the award via NEA's web site.

George Shirley was a member of Wayne State's Marching Band, Concert Chorale, Choral Union and Men's Glee Club. After graduation he was drafted into the U.S. Army, where he became the first African American member of the Army Chorus. Following his military service, Shirley entered and won the Metropolitan Opera's 1961 national auditions, becoming the first African American tenor to be offered a Met contract. He appeared in 28 roles in 26 operas over the next 11 years.

Shirley also was the first African American high school music teacher in the Detroit Public Schools. On three occasions he was named a master teacher in the National Association of Teachers of Singing intern program. He taught music as a member of the faculty of University of Maryland's School of Music and the Aspen Music Festival and School. He now is Joseph E. Maddy Distinguished University Emeritus Professor of Voice at University of Michigan's School of Music, Theatre and Dance, where he taught since 1987 and still maintains a studio.

Professor Shirley has recorded for RCA, Columbia, Decca, Angel, Vanguard, CRI and Philips. He won a Grammy Award in 1968 for the role of Ferrando in the RCA recording of Mozart's Così fan tutte. He received the 1981 Wayne State University Arts Achievement Award in Music and the 2007 Wayne State CFPCA Ovation Award for Career Achievement in Music.

Wayne State University also granted him an honorary doctorate in 2012.

Other recipients of this year's National Medal of Arts include Sally Field, Stephen King, Meredith Monk, John Baldessari, Miriam Colon, Ping Chong, Ann Hamilton,Tobias Wolff, the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation and U-M's University Musical Society. The awards will be presented by President Obama at a White House ceremony that will stream live via whitehouse.gov at 3 p.m. September 10, 2015. Read more via Mark Stryker's coverage in the Detroit Free Press.