Mignon Dunn (1928–)

Born in Tennessee and raised in the Arkansas Delta, Mignon Dunn is a mezzo-soprano who performed more than 650 times at the Metropolitan Opera in New York.

Mignon Armistead Dunn was born in Memphis, Tennessee, on June 17, 1928, and moved with her family to Tyronza (Poinsett County) at an early age. The family lived on a 3,000-acre plantation named Blue Briar. Her father Dudley Dunn—a veteran of World War I and the son of Gray Dunn, a famed Mississippi River boat captain—died in 1934 and is buried in Memphis. Dunn appeared on the 1940 federal census with her mother, Christine, listed as the head of the household and a notation that she was a widow. Her listed occupation in the census was farming, and the family consisted of Dunn, her two older sisters, and their paternal grandmother. Dunn later recounted listening to local African Americans singing during baptisms held in the Tyronza River, exposing her to gospel and blues music.

Sometime after her father’s death, the plantation burned, and Dunn and her family returned to Memphis. Dunn graduated from the Lausanne School for Girls in 1945, and an award named in her honor is given each year to a graduating senior who demonstrates excellence in the arts. While attending Southwestern at Memphis (now Rhodes College), she sang in the chorus of the Memphis Open Air Theater and met James Melton, a tenor at the Metropolitan Opera, when he visited the city for a performance. On his recommendation, the Met offered Dunn a scholarship, and she moved to New York City with her mother in the late 1940s.

At the Met, Dunn trained with Swedish contralto Karin Branzell and took language lessons. In 1955, she made her debut in a production of Carmen in New Orleans. The following year, she made her debut with the New York City Opera and followed that in 1958 with a performance at the Met. While she worked in smaller roles to gain experience, Dunn also sang in nightclubs across the country under the stage name Marianne Grey.

Dunn’s most famous role was as the title character in Carmen, with more than 400 performances. Dunn performed works in Italian, German, French, Spanish, and Russian. In addition to her performances in the United States, Dunn performed in Canada, Italy, Austria, the United Kingdom, France, Russia, Poland, Germany, Chile, Argentina, and Mexico. Some of her performances included both Laura and La Cieca in La gioconda, Eboli in Don Carlo, Amneris in Aida, Dalila in Samson et Dalila, Azucena in Il trovatore, the Princess in Adriana Lecouvreur, Santuzza in Cavalleria rusticana, Giulietta in The Tales of Hoffmann, and Dulcinée in Don Quichotte à Dulcinée.

Dunn married Austrian conductor Kurt Klippstatter in 1972 after they met while working together in Germany. The couple had no children. Klippstatter served as the conductor of the Arkansas Symphony Orchestra and taught at various universities, including the Illinois Opera Theater at the University of Illinois School of Music. He held a position at Northwestern University in Illinois at the time of his death in 2000.

Following her retirement from actively performing, Dunn taught voice classes at institutions across the country, including Brooklyn College, Northwestern University, the University of Texas in Austin, the University of Illinois, the International Vocal Arts Institute, and the Manhattan School of Music. She retired from the Manhattan School of Music in 2023.

For additional information:
“Mezzo-Soprano Mignon Dunn: A Conversation with Bruce Duffie.” Bruce Duffie. https://www.bruceduffie.com/dunn.html (accessed June 17, 2025).

“Mignon Dunn.” Manhattan School of Music. https://www.msmnyc.edu/faculty/mignon-dunn/ (accessed June 17, 2025).

“Mignon Dunn.” Manhattan School of Music YouTube channel, August 8, 2022. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZTBjy228Se8 (accessed June 17, 2025). [see Related Video in sidebar]

Rubin, Stephen. “Mignon Dunn Steals the Show” New York Times, October 14, 1973, p. 145.

Sanderson, Jane. “Brava, Mignon.” Southwestern News, Summer 1973, pp. 10–12.

David Sesser
Southeastern Louisiana University