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Porgy and Bess. She made her Metropolitan Opera debut in 1961 in IL Trovaltore to great enthusiasm, and has starred in Aida, Don Giovanni, Tosca, Madama Butterfly, Un Ballo in Maschera, Manon Lescaut and Adriadne auf Naxo. Miss Prise created the role of Cleopatra in Samuel Barber's Antony and Cleopatra, written for the opening night of the new Metropolitan Opera House at Lincoln Center. Apart from the operatic stage, she has given recitals and concert tours in Vienna, Paris, Lucerne, Salzberg, Hamburg, Berlin, Japan and throughout the United States. Many of her performances have been widely seen on special telecasts. President Reagan presented her with the First Medal of Art in 1985, and she is the first opera singer to have received America's highest civilian award, the Presidential Medal of Freedom, in 1965 from President Johnson. Her numerous other awards include the Handel Medallion, New York City's highest civic and cultural honor, the Silver Medal of the San Francisco Opera, and awards from the New York Council of Churches, Concert Artists Guild, the Republic of Italy, The Government of France, and the American Academy of Achievement. Her recordings have won many prizes, including eighteen Grammy Awards. Commencement activities at Spelman begin on May 10 with Baccalaureate services at 3:00 p.m. in Sisters Chapel on campus. Dr. Ella P. Mitchell, Dean of the Chapel at Spelman, will be the keynote speaker. Rev. Mitchell is an ordained Baptists minister, who serves on numerous boards and has (MORE)