ENTERTAINMENT

'People from all over the world are going to see that name': Augusta honors Jessye Norman

Augusta Chronicle

She performed in concert venues across the world. She won five Grammy Awards including the coveted Lifetime Achievement Award. She earned the Kennedy Center Honor in 1997 and the National Medal of Arts in 2009. And now, Jessye Norman's name will be viewed by thousands as they take exit 199 from I-20 to Washington Road year-round with the naming of the Jessye Norman Memorial Interchange on Saturday.

Friends, family and fans gathered at the Jessye Norman School of the Arts for performances by students from the school, as well as tributes by Norman's siblings – James Howard Norman and Elaine Sturkey, JNSA board member Tonya Currier, Mayor Hardie Davis and Rep. Wayne Howard, who spearheaded the resolution to have the interchange named in Norman's memory. The Augusta native and world-renowned opera singer died in 2019.

The interchange at Washington Road and I-20 was named in memory of famed opera singer and Augusta native Jessye Norman during a ceremony Saturday at the School of the Arts that also bears her name.

Tony Hambrick, who is a JNSA faculty member and recent contestant on "The Voice," performed "He's Got the Whole World in His Hands."

Norman's brother sees the interchange as another way to preserve her legacy. In addition to the arts school named in her honor, there is also a Jessye Norman Amphitheater in downtown Augusta on the Riverwalk and Eighth Street has also been renamed for her.

Jessye Norman's siblings, Elaine Sturkey and James Howard Norman, and Genevieve Kommanivahn unveil the sign for the Jessye Norman Interchange.

"People from all over the world are going to see that name and wonder who is that person," he said.

The interchange is a major access point to Augusta National Golf Club where thousands flock each April for the Masters Tournament, making it the busiest thoroughfare in the city, according to Davis.