Ben Holt

By Mayme Wilkins Holt

A Mother’s Celebration of the Incredible Talent and Life of Her Son

What Goes Into Making a Musical Genius?

Mayme Wilkins Holt opens up her heart to share the incredible story of her son, musician and singer Ben Holt. Holt recounts the joys and challenges of being a single mother and raising a gifted child.

Filled with photos from Ben’s life, this book is not only a biography of a talented musician who was taken too soon, but is also a musical journey. Holt shows us how her son first developed a passion for music, but also struggled, at first, with the rigors of having to count the beat of each note. Though he played several instruments, Ben’s voice was his greatest musical gift. Ben would graduate from Juilliard and go on to have a successful career as a vocal and performing artist, being featured in several great classical music and operatic performances, including Metropolitan Opera Company.

At the tragically young age of 26, Ben was diagnosed with cancer. After treatment, the disease went into remission. But, Ben knew he was on borrowed time.

During the next eight years of his life, Ben accomplished more, loved more, and lived more than most people fit into lives that stretch long into retirement. One of the most remarkable parts of Ben’s story is that it didn’t end with his untimely death at age 34. Instead, Ben’s legacy continues through the people he touched, in his brief life, who have helped to use his work and his story to bless many, more lives.

Join a mother as she takes you on an incredible journey of love, talent, and tragedy. Once you start reading Ben’s story, you won’t be able to stop turning the page.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Christian Living Books, Inc.
• Release date: Jul 15, 2015
• ISBN: 9781562290764

Mayme Wilkins Holt

Mayme Wilkins Holt a native of Alexandria, Virginia, is a retired teacher of English from the Fairfax County Public School System. In addition to work as an educator for twenty-three (23) years in Fairfax County, Mrs. Holt taught for five (5) years at the A&T State University in Greensboro, North Carolina. She also served as an Instructor of English at the United States Department of Agriculture Graduate School.While pursuing a Bachelor degree in Liberal Arts at Howard University, Mrs. Holt studied voice under Carolyn Grant and Louise Burge. Keenly interested in developing her musical talents, she also studied piano through private instruction under Lucille Muse at the Washington Conservatory of Music and School of Expression, located in Washington, D. C. and established by Harriett Gibbs Marshall and exclusively operated by African American musicians for the advancement of African American education.Mrs. Holt later earned the Master of Arts in English degree from The Catholic University of America in D.C. She also pursued post-graduate studies at Rutgers University in New Jersey.Believing that working with civic organizations enables one to give service to others, Mrs. Holt is affiliated with several professional organizations including:- The American Association of University Women- Zeta Chi Omega Chapter, Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority- National Association of Negro Musicians- Friday Morning Music Club (Washington, D.C.)- The Metropolitan Opera Company (Supporting Member)- Young Concert artists (Supporting Member)- Lois J. Wright Concert Series (Baltimore, Maryland)As an early effort, Mrs. Holt actively located young, promising musicians to present to the public by auditioning them to participate in shows and other functions held at the Black History Dinner Theatre at the Takoma Park Baptist Church in Washington, D.C. for several seasons. She guided and mentored many of the talented musicians and other artists whom she discovered.Over the years, Mrs. Holt has ventured in many directions career-wise and has broadened her talents, skills and interests. She has performed as a vocal concert artist in the Mississippi Delta Region, Northern Virginia, and Washington, D.C. She shared an early music world with contralto former classmates Lucreza West (né Lucretia Anderson); Lawrence Winters, baritone (nê Whisonant), and Sarah Copper, soprano and pianist, all students of Mary L. Europe (sister of conductor James Reese Europe). Sarah later married Robert McFerrin, Sr., baritone, the first Black male vocalist accepted to the Metropolitan Opera of New York.For the many years, Mrs. Holt has performed and for her sincere interest in helping talented artists, she has received numerous awards. However, she considers her greatest achievement to be in helping others to broaden their talents and careers. Extending this endeavor further, Mrs. Holt founded the Friends of Ben Holt Society, Inc. in 1995 through which she presented aspiring, established, and renowned artists in concert at the Charles Sumner School Museum and Archives, in Washington, D. C. Proceeds from this mission went to the Juilliard School in New York to establish a permanent endowment for the Ben Holt Memorial Scholarship for Students of Voice. Each year Juilliard selects a deserving student for this award.

Book preview

Ben Holt

Apostle of Musical Enlightenment

A Musical Journey

As Related through Personal Manuscript

from Mrs. Mayme Wilkins Holt, Author,

to Nevilla E. Ottley, Co-Author

Largo, MD

Copyright © 2015 by Mayme Wilkins Holt and Nevilla E. Ottley

All rights reserved under the international copyright law. With the exception of reviewers, who may quote brief passages in a review, no part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without the express, written permission of the authors. Requests should be mailed to Nevilla E. Ottley and Mayme Wilkins Holt, Permissions Department, Classics of Ebony Music Enterprises, LLC, 9529 Riggs Road, Adelphi, MD 20783.

Smashwords Edition ISBN 9781562290764

Hardcover ISBN 9781562290757

Paperback ISBN 978562290702

Published by Christian Living Books, Inc.

P. O. Box 7584

Largo, MD 20792

Contents

Foreword

Childhood Years

J.E.B. Stuart High School Years

Oberlin and Juilliard Years

The Journey...

The Other Ben

End of Ben’s Journey and the National Impact

Tributes to Ben

-From John Keene

-From Cliff Jackson

-From Young Concert Artists

-From Patricia Prattis Jennings

-From Dominique-René de Lerma

About the Authors

Special Tribute to Ben’s Teacher, Miss Woolfolk

Tribute to Richard Hurlbut

Rod Brown, Artist of Ben Holt’s Portrait

Awards and Citations

Interviews… and A Mother’s Thoughts

Appendix: by Dominique-René de Lerma, Ph.D.

Mission

Inauguration and Venues

Discography—1-2

Other recordings—1-114

Ben Holt, Jr. Audio Tapes—1-53

Recordings—39

Baltimore Sun Review

Picture Gallery

End Notes

Foreword

This product is perhaps unlike what some readers are accustomed to seeing in a biography format. The author, as a single mother, is recalling the years. The content is rich in critiques that reflect in part, how the world perceived the artist. The personal tributes affirm the artist’s affability and musicianship and his commitment to endorse the universality of song.

I extend my deepest appreciation to Robert Rooks (deceased),* J.E.B. Stuart High School Choral Director who enabled Ben to recognize that he was destined to a classical music career in classical concert and opera; to Andrew Frierson, Ben’s coach and mentor; to Dominique-René de Lerma for his copious account of performances and his personal tribute; to Susan Wadsworth, Director of Young Concert Artists, whose scheduled performances provided a rich source for Ben to perform throughout the United States. As you read Ben’s biography you will encounter numerous accounts of sources and personal contacts that enriched Ben’s musical journey.

The services of my co-author, Nevilla E. Ottley, have been invaluable to this project as typist of my long-hand manuscripts to booklet format. This format will serve primarily to present to a prospective publisher that Ms. Ottley will procure. She has patiently endured my intense multiple proof-readings.

Read with your curiosity, constructive criticism and compassion. Though I have written and had published multiple educational articles as an English teacher, this endeavor is my first at writing a book—my Voyage Perilous.

Mayme Wilkins Holt

Childhood Years

Mrs. Mayme Wilkins Holt and 5-year-old

son, Ben Edward Holt, Jr. visiting

Hampton Institute

On September 24, 1955, a man child was born. Even, then, wise beyond his hours, this child said to the world, I come bearing gifts, for I am an apostle of musical enlightenment, out to endorse the universality of song. Artistic honesty is at the heart of my professional credo. From that day forward, this winsome child nurtured his special gifts. His mother sensed Ben’s vocal potential even when he was age 4, as she listened to him singing:

Get on the wagon, get on the wagon,

Get on the wagon and we’ll all take a ride!

as he scooted his little red wooden wagon across the floor. Of course, mothers tend to think their kids are very special.

In 1961, this six-year-old African Indian American boy was spotted by his Takoma Elementary School principal, Mrs. Rogers, for his remarkable boy soprano voice. Mrs. Rogers notified the D. C. Visiting Music Instructor, Maurice Murphy, that he must hear this child’s outstanding vocal talent. Truly, Ben’s gift was no ordinary voice.

Later, Ben’s mom directed him toward the Community Singers of Washington, D. C., a choral group for youth. Mrs. Holt carefully saw to it that Ben would not be exposed to an exploitive situation in his early years.

Ben as a very little lad in Mrs. Brent’s piano studio

It was when Ben was five years old that his parents arranged for him to take piano lessons from Mrs. Lillian Brent. Ben did not like the idea of having to count the beat for each note, so he would ask his teacher to play his selection. Mrs. Brent soon caught on to his scheme. After two years, Mrs. Brent advised that Ben was not really ready to apply himself for piano lessons. His mother, however, decided she was not going to let Ben give up music, so she gave him the choice of another instrument. Ben’s first choice was drums. His mom grabbed her head and exclaimed, God forbid! to which Ben replied, How about a guitar? Mom pleasingly agreed. It did not take long for Ben to realize that the piano was very basic indeed. Once again, everyone was musically happy in the Holt household. Ben began lessons at Dale Music Company Studio in Silver Spring, Maryland. He loved it! To his surprise, he learned that regardless of what instrument one chooses, one has to learn to count the beat for each note!

It was in 1966 that Aubrey Maurice Murphy, Director of Music at Metropolitan Methodist Church of Baltimore, Maryland, presented Ben as boy soprano in Mendelssohn’s oratorio, Elijah. Parishioners were astonished at the 11-year-old’s remarkable voice.

Young Ben at the piano

Let’s press the time machine button and fast forward to January 16, 1989, where we will meet that once six-year-old boy, now performing the title role of Mendelssohn’s Elijah. According to music critic, Clifton Noble, Jr. of The Springfield University News, baritone Ben Holt, with dramatic operatic vocal powers, castigated the children of Israel with stern compassion, decried the priests of Baal in a voice of dangerous calm, and reserved an innermost well of heartfelt emotion for the aria ‘It Is Enough, Lord, take away my life’. Holt’s high A in the aria ‘Is Not His Word Like a Fire,’ no mean feat for a baritone, was purely amazing.