Roland Hayes is a member of Omega Psi Phi Fraternity.
He published a collection of spirituals in 1948 as My Songs Aframerican Religious Folk Songs Arranged and Interpreted. Critics lauded his abilities and linguistic skills with songs in French, German and Italian. He was reportedly making $100,000 a year at this point in his career. He is considered the first African American male concert artist to receive wide international acclaim as well as at home.
Roland Hayes finally secured professional management with the Boston Symphony Orchestra Concert Company. He was awarded the Spingarn Medal in 1924. Soon Hayes was singing in capital cities across Europe and was quite famous when he returned to the USA in 1923. His London debut was in April 1920 at Aeolian Hall with pianist Lawrence Brown as his accompanist. In 1917, he toured with the Hayes Trio which he formed with baritone William Richardson and pianist William Lawrence who was his regular accompanist.
He performed with the Philadelphia Concert Orchestra, and at the Atlanta Colored Music Festivals and at the Washington, D.C. He made his official debut that year in Boston’s Symphony Hall which received critical acclaim. He sang at Craig’s Pre-Lenten Recitals and several Carnegie Hall concerts. Roland Hayes began with arranging his own recitals and coast-to-coast tours from 1916 to 1919. Then in London he studied with George Henschel and Amanda Ira Aldridge. During his period studying with Hubbard he was a messenger at the Hancock Life Insurance Company to support himself. He furthered his studies in Boston with Arthur Hubbard. As a student he began publicly performing touring with the Fisk Jubilee Singers in 1911. He was a singer trained with Arthur Calhoun in Chattanooga as well as at Fisk University in Nashville. When Hayes was 11 his father died, and his mother moved the family to Chattanooga, Tennessee. The American lyric tenor, Roland Hayes, was born in Curryville, Georgia, near Calhoun, to Fanny and William Hayes, who were former slaves. “Born: J– Curryville, near Calhoun, Georgia, USA THIS IS THE SUCCESSOR CHANNEL TO “liederoperagreats” WHICH WAS RECENTLY TERMINATED.