Marian Anderson Studio

Five buildings with important historical value make up the Danbury Museum site, which is situated at the southern end of Main Street in downtown Danbury. The Marian Anderson Studio is one of these structures.

Marian Anderson: A Once-in-a-Century Voice

Marian Anderson was an American contralto born February 27, 1897, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Marian Anderson’s performance at the 1935 Salzburg festival inspired Arturo Toscanini, who told her, “A voice like yours is heard only once in a hundred years.” She resumed her career in America in 1938, doing seventy performances after achieving global recognition.

A Trailblazer in Music and Civil Rights

Marian Anderson, renowned as one of America’s finest contraltos, is celebrated for her iconic 1939 Easter Sunday concert at the Lincoln Memorial, a pivotal moment in the Civil Rights Movement following her exclusion from Constitution Hall due to racial discrimination. Anderson went back to Washington in 1961 to perform the national anthem during President John F. Kennedy‘s inauguration. She met President Kennedy once more two years later when he awarded her the Presidential Medal of Freedom. Anderson also became the first African American to perform with the New York Metropolitan Opera in 1955.

Life in Danbury and the Marian Anderson Studio

Marian and her husband, Orpheus “King” Fisher, resided at Marianna Farm in Danbury for nearly 50 years. After Fisher’s passing in 1986, Anderson continued to call Marianna Farm home until 1992, just a year before her own passing in 1993. Then in 1993, the Studio was kindly given to the Danbury Museum. After restoration, it reopened to the public in 2005.

This site is open to the public.