Denyce Graves will perform at the Metropolitan Opera for the last time on January 24, 2026. The celebrated mezzo-soprano will sing Maria in Porgy and Bess, marking the end of a 30-year chapter. At 62, Graves is walking away from the Met stage on her own terms with her voice still strong.
For most of the Met’s history, Black women were excluded from its prestigious stage entirely. Marian Anderson made her debut in 1955 as the first Black principal artist at age 58. Graves stepped onto that same stage in 1995 as Carmen, beginning a three-decade legacy of excellence.
Denyce Graves Performed 158 Times Across Three Decades
Graves was 31 when she debuted as Carmen in 1995, a role that would become her signature. Over the next three decades, she performed in 158 performances at the Met in various demanding roles. She portrayed characters ranging from the seductive Dalila in Saint-Saëns’s Samson et Dalila to Sally in The Hours.
She traveled the world, commanding stages from Vienna to Paris to London throughout her illustrious international career. Her performances established her as one of opera’s most compelling and versatile mezzo-sopranos working today. Graves built a reputation for bringing emotional depth and vocal power to every role she inhabited.
Now at 62 with a full career under her belt, she’s choosing to step away from the Met. “I know that I could continue to sing. I know that,” Graves stated about her decision. “I feel that I’m being called to a different place,” she explained about her next chapter.
Final Performance in Porgy and Bess Honors Black Opera History and Lineage
The timing of ending with Porgy and Bess isn’t accidental for Graves or her sense of history. The opera holds complicated significance for Black singers in classical music throughout decades of limited opportunities. For years, it was one of the only major works where Black artists were centered onstage.
Even as doors to other roles stayed firmly closed, Porgy provided opportunities for Black opera singers. The Met didn’t even stage Porgy until 1985—50 years after it premiered on Broadway originally. This delayed staging reflects the institution’s historical resistance to featuring Black stories and performers prominently.
“I see the retirement around this as a real bowing to the lineage of being an African American woman,” Graves explained. She views her farewell as honoring how far representation has come since earlier eras of exclusion. “We’re seeing many more stories of relevance, many more stories that speak to the whole African American diaspora.”
Opera Star Chooses Foundation Work Over Continued Performing Career
This isn’t a retirement in the traditional sense for Graves, as her voice remains strong and she’s still in demand. She’s just done living on other people’s terms after decades of following industry expectations and rules. Getting here—to a place where she’s making choices instead of just following orders—took decades of experience.
That different place is the Denyce Graves Foundation, where she’s working to fight erasure of Black history. Through the foundation, she’s finally getting to choose which stories get told and how they’re presented. “I’ve portrayed these other characters for so long in my life. I want to portray myself,” she stated.
What gets her out of bed in the morning isn’t opera anymore but rather the foundation work. She’s telling “the great stories that have been hidden and that have been erased” about Black artists. Graves celebrates Black performers who helped build the classical music industry despite facing systemic exclusion.
Graves Grew Up Learning to Be Quiet and Follow Instructions Perfectly
Graves grew up in southwest Washington, D.C. in the 1970s with a mother who raised her conservatively. Her mother taught her to “be quiet and reply only when we’re spoken to and be good.” That training stuck deeply and influenced how she navigated predominantly white opera spaces later.
When she got to the world’s great opera houses, she did exactly what she was told. “Denyce, you go over here, you do this, you sit down, you move when we say move,” she remembers. “And I did all that, and I did it well,” she added about her compliant approach.
She showed up perfectly prepared every time, did everything by the book consistently without complaint. Meanwhile, she watched others around her make demands and set their own boundaries successfully without consequences. “I think I played it safe the whole time,” Graves admits now about her early career approach.
Realization That Powerful People Weren’t Smarter Changed Her Perspective
Somewhere along the way, Graves started paying closer attention to the people in those elite rooms. She rubbed shoulders with powerful luminaries and stars with big names throughout her career ascent. She had made it after all to the highest levels of her profession internationally.
But one thought often lingered in the back of her mind during these elite interactions. “They’re not smarter than me at all. They don’t have more than I have,” she realized. This revelation challenged the deference she’d been taught to show authority figures automatically and unquestioningly.
It was later when a white colleague told her the secret to getting what you want: “You have to be prepared to walk away.” Graves wasn’t prepared to walk away then, still trapped in people-pleasing patterns from childhood. The advice wouldn’t fully click until years later when circumstances forced her to establish boundaries.
Pandemic and Daughter’s Surgery Taught Graves to Stop Asking Permission
The pandemic changed something fundamental in Graves’ approach to her career and life boundaries finally. Watching young protesters in the streets, she felt embarrassed sitting at home doing nothing about injustice. “I thought, ‘If you don’t do anything, then you too are part of the problem,'” she reflected.
She started speaking up more—calling the opera department when her conservatory students weren’t getting stage time. She pushed back when theaters tried to control her schedule without considering her personal needs. This represented a significant shift from her previous accommodating approach to professional demands and requests.
When her daughter needed surgery and a theater said she couldn’t go, Graves drew a line. “This is non-negotiable. I’m not asking your permission. I’m going,” she told them firmly. That realization that she didn’t need permission unlocked something powerful within her about self-advocacy.
Opera Lifestyle of Constant Travel Loses Appeal After 50 Years
The lifestyle of opera has lost its appeal after decades of constant movement and displacement. The endless travel, living out of suitcases, buying yet another bottle of lotion because she left one somewhere. “I’ve been doing that part of it, the actual lifestyle piece of it, for 50-something years,” Graves explained.
“My body and my spirit doesn’t want to engage in that anymore,” she admitted about the physical toll. The glamorous image of international opera career obscures the exhausting reality of perpetual travel and displacement. Graves has earned the right to prioritize her physical and emotional wellbeing over professional prestige.
Her decision to step away reflects understanding that career success doesn’t require sacrificing health and happiness indefinitely. She’s choosing quality of life over continuing to prove herself in an industry she’s already conquered. Graves demonstrates that knowing when to stop is as important as knowing when to start.
Foundation Work Focuses on Fighting Erasure of Black Classical Music History
The foundation work represents Graves’ vision for creating lasting change beyond individual performances and personal achievement. She sees telling neglected Black stories as “a straight line to social justice” through cultural education. When people see the full spectrum of humanity through art, “it changes the playing field,” she believes.
“We look at each other differently” when we understand the complete history of contributions across races, Graves explained. Her foundation work aims to ensure that Black artists who helped build classical music receive proper recognition. This educational mission will outlast her performing career and benefit future generations of artists and audiences.
“I’m choosing the stories that matter to me. I’m choosing the stories that have been neglected, left out, intentionally erased,” Graves stated. Her foundation work allows her to control narratives rather than simply performing stories others selected. This represents the autonomy she couldn’t access during her performing career under institutional control.
Advice to Younger Self: Be Bolder, Brave, Courageous, and Unafraid
When asked what she’d tell her younger self, Graves offered clear guidance based on hard-won wisdom. “Be bolder. Be brave, be courageous, don’t be afraid,” she said about what she’d change. Her advice reflects regret about years spent playing it safe and seeking approval from gatekeepers.
Graves hopes her legacy reflects honesty and vulnerability rather than just vocal excellence or career achievements. “That I was honest. No matter what it is that I’ve done, I’ve always tried to come at that with complete vulnerability,” she explained. “My work has been my whole self, my honesty, and my whole heart.”
The Metropolitan Opera will see Denyce Graves for the last time on January 24, 2026. After three decades of shaping history at one of the world’s most prestigious opera houses, she’s stepping into a new chapter. Thank you for a job well done and for changing what’s possible for Black women in opera.