Madam Desseria Plato

Madam Desseria Plato stands foremost as a dramatic soprano. Born in New York City, she has studied with several of the prominent teachers there. As a lyric actress she has no equal among the other prima-donnas. Her voice is of astonishing compass and beauty; she sings with ease G below the staff to E above high C. Madam Plato recently made a concert tour through the West with great success. She is a most deserving artist, having gone through many hardships to maintain the high position which she now holds. Her last appearance in New York was last May, when she sang the part of Carmen in Bizet's opera with wonderful success, considering that it was the first time she had ever appeared opera, and the part is one of the most trying.

The details concerning Desseria Plato's career are not known. However, when she attracted attention she did so on a grand scale. During the last decade of the 19th century Plato was making a name for herself as a concert singer. In Signor A Farini's Grand Creole and Colored Opera and Concert Company she was billed as a "prima donna mezzo-soprano." With Farini's company she sang the role of Azucena in Verdi's Il Trovatore at the Union Square Theatre in New York. As a substitute for Sissieretta Joyner Jones (Black Patti), at a concert given on Colored American Day (August 23, 1893) at the Chicago World's Fair, she again gained much attention. In 1896 Plato joined John Isham's Oriental American Company. She died in 1907.

Sources: Colored American Magazine (1902 issue); Biographical Dictionary of Afro-American and African Musicians, by Eileen Southern