The Metropolitan Opera continues its partnership with the Denyce Graves Foundation’s “Shared Voices” program, the student-exchange initiative that brings together elite historically Black colleges and universities and America’s preeminent conservatories and institutions, for a second year.

On Feb. 28, a new cohort of 18 students will participate in an immersive day-long program at the Met. This year, activities include a “Behind the Curtain” panel discussion led by distinguished industry professionals about career pathways connected to the performing arts, exclusive access to a dress rehearsal of Beethoven’s “Fidelio,” a conversation with current members of the Lindemann Young Artist Development Program, and a master class with Thomas Lausmann, the Met’s Director of Music Administration.

In addition to the events happening at the Met, on March 1 the new “Shared Voices” cohort will participate in “Sounds of Hope,” a concert celebrating the legacy of Black composers and timeless classics of the operatic repertoire. The singers will present songs by legendary Black composers like Margaret Bonds, Roland Carter, Samuel Coleridge-Taylor, and Harry T. Burleigh, alongside beloved pieces by Puccini, Gershwin, Strauss, and more. This event is co-hosted by the Harlem Chamber Players, New Heritage Theatre Group, and City College Center of the Arts.

“Programs like Shared Voices are critical to the health and vibrancy of opera’s future,” said Michael Heaston, the Met’s Deputy General Manager, in a press release. “Aspiring singers deserve our support as they navigate a complex operatic landscape, and we look forward to being a helping hand that shapes them into artists appearing on major stages in the future.”

Members of the inaugural Shared Voices cohort went on to perform at Opera Theatre of Saint Louis, Seattle Opera, Houston Grand Opera Studio, and the Tanglewood Music Festival. Mezzo-soprano Hannah Jones, a member of the inaugural Shared Voices cohort, is currently in her first year in the Met’s Lindemann Young Artist Development Program, where she made her company debut as one of the Voices of the Unborn Children in this season’s revival of Strauss’s “Die Frau ohne Schatten.”

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