Houston Grand Opera has announced that it will present the world premiere of Joel Thompson’s “A Voice Within” on June 17, 2025, at the Emancipation Park Conservancy Cultural Center.

The song cycle will feature words by librettist and poet Deborah D.E.E.P. Mouton inspired by the lives of residents of Houston’s Third Ward. The showcase will be presented in collaboration with the Emancipation Park Conservancy and African American History Research Center at the Gregory School.

The work features 12 songs for two voices and a piano. Performers include Nicole Heaston and Justin Austin with Donald Lee III accompanying.

“It has been an honor to meditate on the history of this city and to craft, in collaboration with the brilliant Deborah D.E.E.P. Mouton, a musical offering of gratitude to the unsung Black voices that make Houston the vibrant metropolis that is now my home,” said Thompson, the Houston Grand Opera’s first-ever full-time composer-in-resident, per an official press release. “I’m so grateful to HGO and the Emancipation Park Conservancy for facilitating the community conversations that were an essential part of the creation of ‘A Voice Within.’ I hope this song cycle will inspire all of us to recognize the power of our own stories to galvanize community and to lead us toward a more just and hopeful future.”

The world premiere performance kicks off at 7 p.m. local time.

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