(Credit: Eric Schwabel)

Cincinnati Opera has announced that “Good Bones” will be the third and final work in The Black Opera Project.

The opera, with music by Pulitzer Prize-winning composer Michael Abels and libretto by Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright James Ijames, will receive its world premiere in Summer 2028 at Cincinnati Music Hall.

“Good Bones” follows a young couple who return to a historically Black neighborhood to renovate a home, only to find themselves confronted by ghosts of the past and the complexities of a changing community. The opera will be staged by Timothy Douglas and conducted by Kelly Kuo.

Abels is best known for his scores for Jordan Peele’s films “Get Out,” “Us,” and “Nope.” His operatic work includes “Omar,” co-composed with Rhiannon Giddens, which won the 2023 Pulitzer Prize. Meanwhile, Ijames won the 2022 Pulitzer Prize for Drama for “Fat Ham.” His plays have been produced on Broadway, off-Broadway, and across the country. “Good Bones” is adapted from his play of the same name, which premiered at Studio Theatre in Washington, D.C. in 2023 and received its New York premiere at The Public Theater in 2024. The adaptation marks his debut as an opera librettist.

“We launched The Black Opera Project to illuminate dimensions of the Black American experience that have not yet been represented by our art form,” said Evans Mirageas, Cincinnati Opera’s Harry T. Wilks Artistic Director, per an official statement. “With Good Bones, we conclude the Project’s three-year arc with a relatable, heartfelt—and occasionally haunted—story about a young Black couple adapting to the changing world around them and rediscovering the meaning of community.”

The Black Opera Project is a commissioning initiative creating three original, full-length operas across three successive years centered on the Black American experience. Announced in 2024 with support from the Mellon Foundation, the project carries an overall financial commitment of approximately $6 million. Its three works span an Afrofuturist epic, a tribute to a Civil Rights icon, and, with Good Bones, a contemporary story of homecoming and belonging. The Black Opera Project’s first installment, “Lalovavi,” with music by Kevin Day and libretto by Tifara Brown, will receive its world premiere on July 9 and 11, 2026 at Cincinnati Music Hall. The second, “John Lewis: Good Trouble,” with music by Maria Thompson Corley and libretto by Diana Solomon-Glover, is set to premiere in June 2027.

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