Hurok

But shortly before the premiere, the Royal Ballet’s American impresario, Sol Hurok, pushed for bigger stars.

The night before Marian Anderson’s 1939 concert on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial, she called Sol Hurok, her manager, to ask if she really had to go through with it.

But he took Hurok’s advice, and embarked on a career that stayed largely stuck in the lukewarm waters separating jazz, cabaret, spirituals and chamber music.

Impresario Sol Hurok, who had championed opera star Marian Anderson, persuaded her to become an opera singer and landed her a pivotal audition with the City Opera.

The first was in 1946 in St. Paul, dancing under the management of the impresario Sol Hurok.