Video: Opera Singer Denyce Graves Reflects on Career Ahead of Retirement on PBS

Following a storied career on the operatic stages across the country, acclaimed mezzo soprano Dency Graves is entering the next phase of her career. With 40 years of performing under her belt, Graves will now devote her time to teaching, following one last supporting role in Gershwin's Porgy and Bess.

For the PBS culture series CANVAS, arts correspondent Jeffrey Brown caught up with the performer ahead of her retirement, who expressed her gratitude for her career in opera and her hope to continue making a difference, particularly in greater representation on stage.

"I'm incredibly grateful and feel incredibly fulfilled," she said during the interview. "I did many of the roles that I wanted to do. And when I look around me on the stage, I see another generation." Watch the full segment now.

Mezzo-soprano Denyce Graves has captivated audiences at the world's premier opera houses, including the Metropolitan Opera, where she made her debut in 1995. She has since sung Dalila (Samson et Dalila), Cuniza (Oberto, Conte di San Bonifacio in concert), and Bersi (Andrea Chénier).

Graves grew up in Washington D.C. and studied at the Duke Ellington School of the Arts, Oberlin College Conservatory and the New England Conservatory. She has performed with the Metropolitan Opera, New York, San Francisco Opera, Lyric Opera of Chicago, Washington National Opera, Los Angeles Opera, Houston Grand Opera, Paris Opéra, Vienna State Opera, Teatro Real, Madrid, Bavarian State Opera, Zürich Opera and Arena di Verona, among others.

Her repertory includes Giovanna Seymour (Anna Bolena), Adalgisa (Norma), Federica (Luisa Miller), Azucena (Il trovatore), Preziosilla (La forza del destino), Ulrica (Un ballo in maschera), Amneris (Aida), Marguerite (La Damnation de Faust), Charlotte (Werther), Dulcinée (Don Quichotte), Giulietta and Nicklausse (Les Contes d'Hoffmann), Herodias (Salome), Salud (La vida breve), Mère Marie (Dialogues des Carmélites), Jocaste (Oedipus rex), Baba the Turk (The Rake's Progress) and Judit (Duke Bluebeard's Castle). She has also created roles in several world premieres, including Danielpour's Margaret Garner, Goldenthal's Grendel, Blanchard's Champion and Cuomo's Doubt.

Her full opera recordings include Gran Vestale in La vestale, recorded live from La Scala with Riccardo Muti for Sony Classical; Queen Gertrude in Thomas's Hamlet for EMI Classics; Maddalena in Rigoletto with the Metropolitan Opera Orchestra under James Levine; and Emilia in Otello with Plácido Domingo and the Opéra de Paris, Bastille Orchestra under Myung-Whun Chung, both for Deutsche Grammophon.