Her father was a jazz musician and she received much of her early musical training from him, playing the clarinet, cello, saxophone, piano, and guitar during her youth [citation needed] as well as singing in the school choir.
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.
[2] She returned to the NYCO several times in the late 1970s to portray such roles as the Countess in The Marriage of Figaro, and Nedda in Leoncavallo's Pagliacci.
[2] She returned to the NYCO several times in the late 1970s to portray such roles as the Countess in The Marriage of Figaro, and Nedda in Leoncavallo's Pagliacci.
[citation needed] In 1983, Dale made her first appearance at the Opéra National de Paris as Fata Morgana in The Love for Three Oranges.
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.