Not much is known about this location. Formerly the private residence of Mrs. Hendy D. Sharpe, a multimillionaire sponsor of the Community Concert Association of the Music World, this location housed musicales that included performances by operatic contraltos like Portia White. Built in 1928, it is now renamed the Rochambeau House and is home to Brown University’s Departments of French and Hispanic Studies.
-written by Felicia Bevel
1945
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The Community Concert Association of the Music World Providence Chapter invited Portia White to sing during its fifteenth annual membership drive on April 30, 1945. Held at the private residence of Mrs. Hendy D. Sharpe of 84 Propsect Street, the performance included a mixture of classical numbers and Negro spirituals. The chapter's invitation of Portia White to this event represented the organization's larger objective of bringing international musicians to American shores and thus making America the "center of the musical world". Furthermore, it illustrates the chapter's perception of the talented black Canadian contralto as part of a circle of international musicians who should perform in the United States. -written by Felicia Bevel
