Denyce Graves (born March 7, 1964 in Washington, D.C.) is an African-American mezzo-soprano opera singer.She is the middle of three children and was raised by her mother on Galveston Street, S.W., in the Bellevue section of Washington.She graduated from the Duke Ellington School of the Arts in 1981. Graves studied voice at the Oberlin Conservatory of Music and the New England Conservatory.She worked at the Wolf Trap Opera Company, which provides further training and experience for young singers who are between their academic training and full-time professional careers. Soon after, she was invited by David Gockley to participate in the Houston Opera Studio, from 1988 to 1990, where she studied with Elena Nikolaidi.