After graduating from school, Dale worked as a first grade music teacher in Brooklyn until her singing career began to take off. Dale made her professional opera debut on February 20, 1973 as St. Teresa I in
Virgil Thomson's
Four Saints in Three Acts at the
Vivian Beaumont Theater in a production mounted by the
Metropolitan Opera. In 1974 she portrayed Bess for the first time at the
Los Angeles Civic Light Opera. In 1975 she won the
Walter W. Naumburg Foundation's music competition which led to her New York City recital debut at
Town Hall in May 1976. She won an In 1977 she performed as a soloist with the
New York Philharmonic in the premiere of
Leonard Bernstein's
Songfest in
Washington D.C. In 1978, she won a Grammy Award for best Opera Performance for the Porgy & Bess soundtrack. In 1986, she appeared at the
Opéra de Nancy et de Lorraine (now the Opéra national de Lorraine). In 1988 she sang
Bess for her debut at the Theater des Westens in Berlin. The following year she portrayed Liu at the
Deutsche Oper Berlin. She has given many recitals including two resulting from winning the Walter W. Naumburg voice competition. She gave recitals at
Alice Tully Hall and
Carnegie Hall among other places. She appeared at the White House in a Gershwin evening on February 12, 1978, with pianist Neil Stannard. In 1991, she sang the world premiere of
John Duffy's
Time for Remembrance with the
Honolulu Symphony for the commemoration of the 50th anniversary of the attack on
Pearl Harbor. ==Personal life==