Limmie Pulliam, a renowned dramatic tenor whose late-blooming rise carried him from a small-town church choir to some of the world’s most prestigious opera stages — and who performed in Detroit for his first and only time earlier this year — died May 19 at age 51.
His death came suddenly just one day after he performed as the tenor soloist in Gustav Mahler’s Eighth Symphony with the Dallas Symphony Orchestra.
Pulliam made his long-awaited Detroit debut Feb. 28 in Music Hall’s sensational, one-night-only concert staging of Puccini’s “Turandot.” Humorous and humble, he was enthusiastic about finally making it to the Motor City.
“To finally get a chance to come here and perform on stages that have seen some of the greatest names in all of music, it is an honor beyond comprehension,” he told the Free Press the day before the show. “They’re going to let me get on this stage and make some noise? OK, wow, that’s pretty cool.”
The “Turandot” staging was the brainchild of Grammy-winning soprano and metro Detroit resident Christine Goerke, who also sang the title role opposite Pulliam’s Prince Calàf. Offstage, the two performers shared a long and deep friendship. On May 20, a grief-stricken Goerke took to Facebook to share her thoughts on his passing.
“We have all been stunned by the news of an immense loss to our opera family today,” she wrote in the public post.
“I’ve spent much of the day alternating between sobbing and being so angry I wanted to throw a chair out the window … but I want to share this. Limmie Pulliam was not just an astounding artist. That simply goes without saying. He shone from the inside. He was a complete joy. He was kindness. He was purpose. He was someone who connected people to each other with his voice and soul. He was someone who fought for and earned his place at the table. He was someone who would fight for others at that same table. He was someone who made me want to do more and better.
“It was my great honor to know him. It was my great honor to work with him. It was my great honor to share the light that he was with my friends, family and neighbors in Detroit this year. My heart is quite selfishly broken that we will have a world without him.
“Safe home, my friend. Thank you for the gift of you. Until the next time.”
During his conversation with the Free Press in February, Pulliam strongly advocated for opera as a living, breathing, evolving art form.
“My goal for this,” he said, “is that people realize opera is for everyone. … It’s not just for these ‘elites’; it’s not just for your grandparents — it’s for everybody. I love that (Goerke) is doing it in a way that makes it more accessible to the general public by doing it in concert. It takes a lot of stress off people — a feeling that they have to maybe dress a certain way or behave a certain way, or come from a certain income level in order to enjoy it.
“I think people are going to have the time of their lives with (“Turandot”) because it’s going to be pretty special.”
Music Hall’s packed house of nearly 2,000 attendees certainly thought so, leaping to its feet amid thundering applause and screams of approval that night, after Pulliam’s one and only performance in Detroit.
This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Opera star Limmie Pulliam dies at 51 just months after Detroit triumph
Reporting by Duante Beddingfield, Detroit Free Press / Detroit Free Press
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
