http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lzRH95hfUXs

Jessye Norman, legendary opera singer and five-time Grammy winner, talks about her artistic roots and the value of bringing music to a younger generation.

Ms. Norman reminisces how her grandmother would sing herself through the tasks of her day. “It was clear to me that these songs were created by people who needed something to take them from where they were to where they would prefer to have been,” Ms. Norman says. This makes the singer also a storyteller.

When asked about the value of exposing children of color to opera, Ms. Norman describes how the arts can broaden the minds of children and adults alike, helping us all to realize that we live in an expansive world and that we have voices inside of us that can be expressed and heard. She recalls that Albert Einstein considered his gift of imagination to have had more meaning to him than his talent for absorbing knowledge.

Ms. Norman concludes by saying that “…the arts provides a passage from one human being to another. Everybody has the same potential if given the same opportunity.”