Alice Bigelow Tully was an American singer of opera and recital, music promoter, patron of the arts and philanthropist from New New York
Background
Alice Tully was born in Corning, Steuben County, New York, the daughter of lawyer and State Senator William J. Tully (1870–1930) and Clara Mabel (Houghton) Tully (1870–1958)and had one younger sister Marion Tully Dimick (died Washington, 1981).
Education
She studied in Paris and made her debut in 1927 with the Pasdeloup Orchestra.
Career
She was a second cousin of the American actress Katharine Hepburn. She spent her high school years at the Westover School in Middlebury, Connecticut. began her career as a mezzo-soprano, then became a soprano. In 1933, she appeared in Cavalleria rusticana in New York City. chaired the board of directors of the New York Chamber Music Society, and served on the boards of the New York Philharmonic, the Metropolitan Opera and the Juilliard School.
In 1970, was awarded the Handel Medallion for her contributions to the cultural life of New York City.
Her most famous commission was for Olivier Messiaen who composed Des canyons aux étoiles.. which had its first performance in the Alice Hall in 1974. In 1985, she was awarded the National Medal of Arts.
William Schuman, Gian Carlo Menotti and Riccardo Malipiero dedicated works to her. never married, she suffered a stroke in 1991, and died in New York in 1993, aged 91.