Black Excellence: Ryan Speedo Green
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ryan_Speedo_Green
Ryan Speedo Green (born April 1, 1986)[1][2][3] is an American bass-baritone opera singer.
Life and career
Green was born in Suffolk, Virginia, and grew up in low-income housing and a trailer park.[1] He has said his middle name was derived from his father: “I was born on April Fools’ Day, and my father, who considers himself quite a funny man, thought he would name me – he’s a bodybuilder – after his favorite sporting brand. I’ve kind of embraced it and made it my own.”[2] He was sent to juvenile detention at the age of 12 after he threatened to stab his mother and brother.[1][3]
Green earned a Bachelor of Music degree at the Hartt School of Music[4] and a Master of Music at Florida State University.[3] He won several singing competitions. In March 2011, he was one of the five winners of the Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions.[2] Following an article by Daniel Bergner in The New York Times about Green and his win in that competition, HarperCollins expressed interest in publishing his biography.[1] It was published in October 2016 with the title Sing for Your Life: A Story of Race, Music, and Family.[5] In 2014 he received the George London Foundation Award, won first prize of the Gerda Lissner Foundation, was a finalist in Palm Beach Opera‘s singing competition, and graduated from the Metropolitan Opera‘s Lindemann Young Artist Development Program.[6][7]