Portland Opera is set to present “The Central Park Five” starting on March 18, 2022. The opera, composed by Anthony Davis to a libretto by Richard Wesley, will be directed by Nataki Garrett and stars Soltero Donovan as Antron McCray, Aubrey Allicock as Yusef Salaam, Bernardo Holcomb as Kevin Richardson, Nathan Granner as Kharey, Victor Ryan Robertson as Raymond Santana, {…}
The Portland Opera has received a major grant from the National Endowment for the Arts. The company received $30,000 to support its production of “The Central Park Five,” which is scheduled for performances in March 2022. “We are so grateful to the National Endowment of the Arts for their support of this production of ‘The Central Park Five,’ and we’re so excited {…}
The Opera America has announced the winners of the Robert L.B. Tobin Director-Designer Prize. The four winning teams are: The production of the “The Central Park Five” by Davis and Wesley. The award went to the hands of Bruno Baker, director; Chantelle Good, choreography; Frank J. Olivia, set design; Sabrina Bianca Guillaume, costume design; and Ginevra Lombardo, lighting design. The {…}
(Credit: Opéra de Montréal official website / American Lyric Theater official website) The New York City Opera has announced a spring 2021 season featuring works by the two prominent American composers. The NYCO will first stage the world premiere of Ricky Ian Gordon’s opera “The Garden of the Finzi-Continis,” which is a co-production with the National Yiddish Theatre Folksbiene. Famed {…}
(Photo: Keith Ian Polakoff) The Pulitzer Prize-winning opera “The Central Park Five” recounts the harrowing story of five teenagers falsely accused and imprisoned for years before their exoneration in 2002. Composer Anthony Davis and librettist Richard Wesley bring the infamous story to life, offering an operatic commentary on racial bias in the United States. The work premiered June 15, 2019 {…}
Anthony Davis is one of the most important opera composers working today. Often called the “Dean of African-American opera composers,” he has created a number of major operas, including a Pulitzer Prize winner. So for this week’s edition of the opera quiz, we take a look at the composer’s legendary career, with a special emphasis on his operatic output. As {…}
(photo: Keith Ian Polakoff) From the outset, let me say that Anthony Davis and Richard Wesley’s “The Central Park Five” is a powerful experience. I’ve said elsewhere that impressive new operas are created out of U.S. current affairs because U.S. current affairs play out on an operatic scale. Such is the case with this account of the trial and later {…}