Province Supports Bravura Nova Scotia’s
new Portia White Scholarship

“Nobody ever told me to sing.  I was born singing.”
— Portia White

To mark the centennial of Bravura Nova Scotia’s creation, an application was made to the Nova Scotia Department of Communities, Culture and Heritage for funding for an endowment that would support a scholarship in the name of Portia White, the first African-Canadian classical singer to achieve international recognition. We received a grant of $50,000 in support of this project, the proviso being that we work to raise an equivalent amount to increase the value of the endowment. This spring a scholarship of $2,500 will be available for a voice student of exceptional promise who, following in the steps of Portia, will be studying at the Conservatory. Of the approximately 50 awards that Bravura offers each year, this will be the largest.

Portia White was born in Truro in 1911, the third of thirteen children of the Rev. Wm Andrew and Izie Dora White.   As a young girl she was already determined to become a professional singer. In the 1930s Portia studied with Bertha Cruikshanks, Head of the Conservatory’s Voice Department and an organizer of Halifax’s first musical festival held in 1935. Portia won the festival’s Helen Kennedy Silver Cup for the mezzo-soprano class that year.  

When Bertha retired the following year, the Conservatory—on the recommendation of famed conductor Arturo Toscanini—hired Dr. Ernesto Vinci to head the Voice Department.  Vinci was newly arrived in North America, having fled Nazi persecution in Europe.  In Canada he was to develop a reputation as one of the country’s leading vocal teachers.   In 1944 the Province created the Nova Scotia Talent Trust to assist White’s professional career; with the Trust’s support, she continued her vocal studies in New York for the next three years.  The Trust continues to honour Portia White with an annual award in her name.

Nova Scotian Portia White was the first African-Canadian classical singer to receive international acclaim.  Sometimes referred to as the Canadian Marian Anderson, she made her New York debut in 1944 at Town Hall, where nine years earlier Anderson had also sung for the first time in that city.  The New York Herald Tribune’s Paul Bowles wrote in his review that Portia “not only has a magnificent vocal instrument, but that she also has sufficient musicality and intelligence to do what she wants with it.” 

The following year, Portia signed with Columbia Artists, the largest artist agency in North America.  Over the next few years, she sang across Central and South America, toured throughout North America, and performed in France and Switzerland. Unfortunately, Portia developed vocal difficulties, and subsequently she gave only occasional concerts.  Among them was a 1964 command performance for Queen Elizabeth and Prince Philip in Charlottetown at the opening of the Confederation Centre for the Arts.

By the 1950s Portia was living in Toronto and teaching at Branksome Hall, a girls’ school.  She also had a number of private students, several of whom would have major careers, including Broadway star Robert Goulet, singer and actress Dinah Christie, Lorne Greene of Bonanza fame, actor and singer Don Franks, and famed contralto Maureen Forrester.  

Portia’s reputation and fame have continued to spread since her early death in 1968. In 1995 she was named a “person of national historic significance” by the Government of Canada. Three years later Canada Post issued a postage stamp with her image. More recently she was one of the women considered by the Bank of Canada to be featured on the $10.00 bill. Now she will be honoured by the creation of the Bravura Nova Scotia—Portia White Scholarship for a student at the Conservatory where the uncommonly talented singer did much of her early vocal training.
© 2021 Dr. G.P. Brooks