From the Washington Performing Arts Society:
Washington Performing Arts’s Ambassador of the Arts Award was created in 2013, annually recognizing extraordinary achievement, service, and advocacy in the performing arts by an individual. Past winners have included Jessye Norman, Ruth Bader Ginsburg, and Midori. For 2021, we are thrilled to present the Ambassador of the Arts Award to bass and advocate for social justice Soloman Howard.
From his formative years in the 1990s, singing in our Children of the Gospel Choir, to his current status as a celebrated performer on the world’s most esteemed operatic stages, Soloman Howard has been a voice not only for artistic excellence but for inclusivity, working to share the arts with ever larger and more widespread audiences.
Upon receiving the award, Howard remarked, “What an honor it is to be named Washington Performing Arts’s 2021 Ambassador of the Arts. Washington Performing Arts is special to me for several reasons: it’s the organization that gave me the platform that I needed to thrive; I learned and grew from my experiences there; it kept me in an environment that was safe for me to express my diversity as an artist; and it put me on big stages for major moments in history across the world. Those reasons make Washington Performing Arts a part of my heart and legacy—forever.”
From the Desk of the Pastor 