Dale, Gamma

African-American soprano; b. Chester, Pa., July 4, 1948. Dale first studied piano, then clarinet and singing, and at 14 began to study voice at Philadelphia's Settlement Music School. She subsequently enrolled at the Juilliard School of Music in N.Y. (B.Mus., 1970; M.S., 1975). She made her debut with the N.Y. Opera as Antonia in Les Contes d'Hoffmann in 1975. Other roles there were Nedda, Musetta, the Countess in Le nozze di Figaro, Pamina, and Bess. In 1988 she sang GERSHWIN'S Bess at the Theater des Westens in Berlin, and in 1989 PUCCINI's Liu at the Deutsche Oper there.