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 {…}
The Town Hall celebrates James Baldwin with the New York premiere of the chamber opera,“The Tongue & The Lash” and “A Return to Civic Discourse” on Feb. 18, 2025. Damien Sneed and Karen Chilton’s “The Tongue & The Lash” picks up at the end of Baldwin and William F. Buckley, Jr.’s infamous televised debate in Feb. 1965. The opera imagines {…}
On Jan. 9, KFDC’s Classical Americana SKY concert will present Denyce Graves and Lara Downes. Graves and Downes will perform music by various American composers and discuss advocacy and mentorship in building the future of classical music. Downes will also play some solo piano work. The evening will be held at the Classical California KDFC at The Bowes Center for the {…}
(Photos: Evan Zimmerman / Met Opera) The Metropolitan Opera presented the tenth performance of composer Kevin Puts’s “The Hours,” with libretto by Greg Pierce, on Friday, May 10th 2024. In November 2022, OperaWire reviewed “The Hours” debut with great attention towards how the opera came to the Met, including Kevin Puts’s score, Greg Pierce’s libretto, and the undeniable beauty of the {…}
(Credit: Karen Almond / Met Opera) On Sunday, March 17, the Met Opera hosted the grand finale of the Eric and Dominique Laffont Competition. Out of an initial group of 1,500 hopefuls, ten standout singers got their chance to shine before their first Met audience. Denyce Graves hosted the event, featuring a special bass-baritone Ryan Speedo Green performance. The afternoon {…}
Washington National Opera announced its 2024-25 season. It all starts with Beethoven’s “Fidelio” starring Sinéad Campbell Wallace, Jamez McCorkle, Derek Welton, David Leigh, and Denyce Graves. Robert Spano conducts a production by Francesca Zambello. Performance Dates: Oct. 25 – Nov. 4, 2024 Robert Spano conducts “Gods and Mortals: A Celebration of Wagner.” The concert features Christine Goerke and Brandon Jovanovich. Performance {…}
On March 23, the Denyce Graves Foundation (DGF) and Washington Chamber Orchestra (WCO) will present “Empowering Voices.” The performance will feature special performances from young artists from DGF’s Shared Voices program, a partnership with HBCUs that nurtures the next generation of talented BIPOC classical singers. It will be presented in collaboration with Johns Hopkins Peabody Institute, where mezzo-soprano Denyce Graves {…}
(Photo credit: Gillian Riesen & Rachel Hadiashar) Justin Austin, the 2024 Marian Anderson Vocal Award winner, is set to star in the New York premiere of Damien Geter’s “COTTON.” The multimedia work presents African American stories through song, poetry, and photography. It is inspired by photographer John E. Dowell’s haunting images of South Carolina cotton fields, captured in his 2018 {…}
The Peabody Institute of the Johns Hopkins University is set to welcome visiting classical voice students to its Baltimore campus for a symposium and intensive coaching sessions as part of Shared Voices, a collaboration between HBCUs and leading conservatories designed to foster a more diverse classical vocal arts. The event will be led by Peabody faculty member Denyce Graves and {…}
(Photo credit: Seattle Opera © Philip Newton) Why build an elaborate faux-underwater set for the Rhine scenes in Wagner’s “Ring” when you have an orchestra pit that can make a perfectly plausible stage river? It’s an idea so obvious, you think surely, it must have been tried already. This is the solution found by Brian Staufenbiel, tasked with staging “Das {…}
Denyce Graves is set to direct the world premiere production of “Loving v. Virginia” at the Virginia Opera. The opera by Damien Geter and Jessica Murphy Moo will have its big premiere in April 2025 in collaboration with the Richmond Symphony. “It is an honor to be asked to join a team that is developing a project around one of {…}