Sylvia McNair, opera soprano (breast cancer)
Ed Varner
----------
August 4, 2006
Soprano Sylvia McNair recovering from breast cancer surgery
According to a news report, last October, Grammy Award-winning opera
singer Sylvia McNair had a mammogram that did not indicate the presence
of breast cancer. However, within less than a year, McNair went on to
be diagnosed with breast cancer, and is currently recovering from a
radical mastectomy and chemotherapy.
With more chemotherapy ahead of her, and a new position as a voice
instructor at Indiana University, she stated, ""My future is going to
be a hybrid combination of teaching and continuing to sing concerts and
productions of musical theater pieces. But obviously, my near future is
going to involve winning over cancer, which will happen. If cancer has
taught me one thing, it's that life is a puzzle with many pieces, and
cancer is one of the pieces of life."
McNair, who performed for Pope John Paul II and has sung at the U.S.
Supreme Court, won two Grammy Awards - in 1994 for Handel's Semele and
in 1996 for The Echoing Air: The Music of Henry Purcell.
In 2002, Sylvia McNair acted as the evening's narrator for Sing for the
Cure in a tribute to Kenda Webb, who lost her battle with cancer the
year before after serving as co-honorary chairperson for the Sing for
the Cure event. Accompanied by Charles Webb on piano, McNair performed
a selection of American Songs from Broadway and Bernstein. Slyvia
McNair is considered one of the world's greatest living sopranos.