Bringing Beatrice Belkin Home: A Jewish Opera Singer's Early Years in Lawrence, KS
Sun, Nov 15
|Lawrence Jewish Community Center
Discover the little-known early story of coloratura soprano Beatrice Belkin and how her Kansas roots shaped an international career
Time & Location
Nov 15, 2026, 4:00 PM – 5:30 PM
Lawrence Jewish Community Center, 917 Highland Dr, Lawrence, KS 66044, USA
About the event
Coloratura soprano Beatrice Abrams Belkin Littau (1902-1998), known professionally as Beatrice Belkin, led a successful operatic career while maintaining connections with her Jewish community. In New York, she studied with former Jewish opera singer Estelle Liebling, and held singing posts at the Congregation Emanu-El of New York, and Temple Emanu-El in Bayonne, New Jersey. After performing for Jewish impresario Samuel Roxy Rothafel at Radio City Music Hall and the Rialto Theatre, Belkin sang concerts in Berlin and Amsterdam. In 1930, she signed a contract with the Metropolitan Opera Company, and debuted as the Dew Man in Engelbert Humperdinck’s Hansel and Gretel. It is less well known that Belkin spent her early years in Lawrence, Kansas.
Though born in New York City to George and Jennie (Schaff) Abrams, Belkin moved with her family to Lawrence, Kansas as a teenager in 1916. Here, Belkin received her earliest musical training and taught piano…