Jessye Norman
(c) Jessye Norman School of the Arts
The world will bid farewell to opera singer Jessye Norman this week in Augusta, Georgia, with a four-day celebration, Gwendolyn Quinn, a spokeswoman for the family said.
Jessye Norman’s funeral is set for 1 p.m. Saturday at the 2,800-seat Bell Auditorium, with tributes from actor and Augusta native Laurence Fishburne, civil rights activist and long-time friend Vernon Jordan, soprano Audra McDonald and tenor Lawrence Brownlee. Musical direction is by Norman’s long-time friend Damien Sneed.
An Augusta native, Jessye Norman died September 30 at the age of 74.
Two public viewings for Norman will be held, from 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. Thursday and 9 a.m. to noon Friday at Mt. Calvary, where Norman first sang publicly as a child.
