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Season Announcement

Lauren Snouffer, Mary Elizabeth Williams, Elijah McCormack, Chelsea Helm, Maya Kherani, James Reese Headline Opera Lafayette’s 2025-26 Season

https://operawire.com/lauren-snouffer-mary-elizabeth-williams-elijah-mccormack-chelsea-helm-maya-kherani-james-reese-headline-opera-lafayettes-2025-26-season/

Opera Lafayette has announced its 2025-26 season. First up is “Dido and Aeneas” starring Mary Elizabeth Williams, Elijah McCormack, and Chelsea Helm. Patrick Quigley conducts the Opera Lafayette Orchestra. Performance Dates: Oct. 16, 2025 (Washington DC), Oct. 20, 2025 (NYC) Then comes “Queen of Hearts,” a Valentine’s Day revel. Nic McGegan leads the concert, which features Maya Kherani and James Reese. {…}

News

Opera Lafayette to Celebrate Ryan Brown’s 30-Year Tenure & Farewell

https://operawire.com/opera-lafayette-to-celebrate-ryan-browns-30-year-tenure-farewell/

Opera Lafayette will celebrate 30 years of Ryan Brown on two separate occasions. The program, titled “RE|JOICE: 30 Years of Ryan Brown,” heads to New York City for a performance at St. Bartholomew Church on April 30, 2025. Then on May 1, the showcase will take the stage in Washington D.C. at The Kennedy Center. Both events will represent Brown’s {…}

Reviews, Stage Reviews

Opera Lafayette & OperaCreole 2025 Review: Morgiane, ou Le Sultan d’Ispahan

https://operawire.com/opera-lafayette-2025-review-morgiane-ou-le-sultan-dispahan/

(Photo Credit: Jennifer Packard Photos, Courtesy of Opera Lafayette) “Defying harsh laws, braving even death, I was able to change my fate,” the titular Morgiane sings proudly in Edmond Dédé’s “Morgiane, ou Le Sultan d’Ispahan.” The same could be said of the composer. Born free in New Orleans in 1827, Dédé defied expectations of what a Black man in the {…}

Business, News

Opera Lafayette Receives Major Grant to Support World Premiere of ‘Morgiane’

https://operawire.com/opera-lafayette-receives-major-grant-to-support-world-premiere-of-morgiane/

Opera Lafayette is the recipient of a $410,000 grant from the Ford Foundation. The grant will support the performance and recording of “Morgiane” by Edmond Dédé, the earliest existing opera by a Black American. The opera will be conducted by Quigley the world premiere showcases in February 2025 at Lincoln Theatre in Washington, Jazz at Lincoln Center in New York {…}

News

OperaCréole & Opera Lafayette Debut the Earliest Extant Complete Opera by a Black American

https://operawire.com/operacreole-opera-lafayette-debut-the-earliest-extant-complete-opera-by-a-black-american/

OperaCréole and Opera Lafayette present Edmond Dédé’s the never-performed work “Morgiane.” Only recently discovered, “Morgiane” is believed to be the earliest extant complete opera by a Black American. The world premiere is presented in a concert version by Mary Elizabeth Williams, Kenneth Kellogg, Chauncey Packer, Joshua Conyers, Jonathan Woody, along with members of Opera Creole chorus. The Opera Lafayette Orchestra performs {…}

News

Opera Lafayette Announces 204-25 Season

https://operawire.com/opera-lafayette-announces-204-25-season/

Opera Lafayette announces its 30th anniversary season. Soprano Amel Brahim-Djelloul performs in the Ensemble Amedyez and and Kalanidhi Dance in the opening event, “RE|CLAIM.” Performance Dates: October 21, 22, & 24, 2024 “RE | STORE” events are centered around Edmond Dédé’s “Morgiane.” The cast features sopranos Mary Elizabeth Williams and Lindsey Reynolds, tenor Chauncey Packer, baritone Joshua Conyers, bass-baritone Jonathan {…}

News

Opera Lafayette to Present ‘The Era of Madame de Maintenon’ to Close out 2023-24 Season

https://operawire.com/opera-lafayette-to-present-the-era-of-madame-de-maintenon-to-close-out-2023-24-season/

Opera Lafayette will close out its 2023-24 season with “The Era of Madame de Maintenon.” The showcase, scheduled for May 3 – 9, 2024 in New York and Washington D.C., will explore the life and times of the last mistress and secret wife of Louis XIV. First up will be “Les Fêtes de Thalie” in Washington D.C.’s Kennedy Center on {…}

Black History Month, News

OperaCréole & Opera Lafayette Featured on NBC Nightly News

https://operawire.com/operacreole-opera-lafayette-featured-on-nbc-nightly-news/

(Photo credit: NBC) On Feb. 5, the NBC Nightly News ran a feature on OperaCréole and Opera Lafayette on their efforts to produce the earliest known opera by a Black American,”Morgiane.” NBC Nightly News traveled to New Orleans to film a segment on OperaCréole’s Artistic Director Givonna Joseph and her work to bring restorative justice to American opera through presentations {…}

Behind the Scenes, Interviews

Q & A: Opera Lafayette’s Ryan Brown & Patrick Quigley on Leading Company & Making the Transition to a New Future

https://operawire.com/q-a-opera-lafayettes-ryan-brown-patrick-quigley-on-leading-company-making-the-transition-to-a-new-future/

Nearly thirty years ago, Ryan Brown created Opera Lafayette (OL), an organization dedicated to exploring baroque opera and its history via implementing period-instruments. But after being at the helm of the company and shepherding its growth into one of the major torchbearers for early opera performance tradition around the world, he’s decided to step away in 2025. In his place {…}