Elvira Green's prolific career as an opera singer catapulted her from the choir room at her church in Greensboro to the chambers of the Metropolitan Opera in New York.
She was one of the few African-American women to break into a permanent spot at the Met during the 1970s, and her success as a mezzo-soprano has taken her all over the world.
She performed her signature role as Maria in the opera "Porgy and Bess."
Host Frank Stasio talks with Green, artist in residence at North Carolina Central University, about her life and career as one of the biggest names in American opera.
Watch Elvira Green help one of her NCCU students with her senior recital in 2013: