It was a long way to the top for the first black artist to hit No.1 on the UK classical chart.

Noah Stewart was in London preparing for his Covent Garden debut when he got the news. “My manager called me and said, ‘Noah, you went number one.’ I thought, no way. I didn’t really freak out on the spot because I was on my way to rehearsal. I only had 15 minutes so I called my mom. She screamed. I said, ‘I’m also the first person of colour to have a number one classical album.’ I heard silence and then her co-worker got on the phone because she was crying. Then I started crying because she was so proud of the work that I’d done.”

It’s a touching moment, but it seems surprising that such a milestone wasn’t achieved until 2012. Stewart (or just Noah, as he is billed on the self-titled Number One album in question) says he had few role models “of colour” in his field growing up, citing Leontyne Price as an early source of inspiration. “There were bass baritones like Bobby McFerrin and Willard White, but in terms of Romantic heroes, there were just...