Photo credit: Zenith Richards, Paola Kudacki, Met Opera “Opera Evolved” is National Sawdust and the Metropolitan Opera’s new programming partnership. Throughout the 2023-24 season, National Sawdust will showcase conversations with composers and artists that focus on the contemporary operas featured at the Met this season. They will highlight and explore the ways opera is evolving today and discuss the inner-workings {…}
North Carolina’s Classical Station WCPE has announced that it will not be broadcasting the six modern operas that the Metropolitan Opera will showcase during the 2023-24 season. According to a letter signed by Deborah S. Proctor, the General Manager and Chief Engineer of WCPE, the radio station, which did not broadcast “Champion” due to vulgar language, opted to not broadcast {…}
Detroit Opera is set to present “X: The Life and Times of Malcolm X” starting on May 14, 2022. The opera by Anthony Davis will be directed by Robert O’Hara and conducted by Kazem Abdullah. Taking on the title role of Malcolm X will be Davóne Tines. As Elijah-Street, audiences will see Victor Ryan Robertson. Meanwhile, Whitney Morrison will play {…}
Odyssey Opera and the Boston Modern Opera Project have unveiled the full cast for their production of “X: The Life and Times of Malcolm X.” The Anthony Davis and Thulani Davis opera, which will be performed at The Strand, a few blocks away from Malcolm X’s childhood home” will be presented as part of the company’s five-part series “As Told {…}
The Seattle Opera has announced two new operas for its 2022-23 and 2023-24 seasons continuing its commitment to contemporary works. The company will first present the world premiere of its commission, “A Thousand Splendid Suns” based on author Khaled Hosseini’s 2007 award-winning novel of the same name. The work will be presented in February of 2023. The following season the {…}
“X, The Life and Times of Malcolm X,” an opera by Pulitzer Prize-winner Anthony Davis, premiered at the American Music Theater Festival in Philadelphia on October 9, 1985. The work, which tells the story of the life of the minister and human rights activist Malcolm X in collaboration with the composer’s cousin, librettist, and writer Thulani Davis, was built upon {…}
(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 {…}
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 {…}