Winter Storm Forces Rescheduling of New Orleans Premiere of ‘Morgiane’
By David SalazarOpera Creole and Opera Lafayette’s performance of Edmond Dédé’s “Morgiane” in New Orleans has been rescheduled due to a winter storm.
The showcase of the earliest extant complete opera by a Black American will now take place on Jan. 24 at the St. Louis Cathedral in New Orleans. The preview performance kicks off at 7:30 p.m. CT. Following the New Orleans performance, the premiere of the work 138 years after its composition, heads to Washington, DC, New York City, and College Park, MD.
The world premiere run stars Mary Elizabeth Williams, Kenneth Kellogg, Chauncey Packer, Joshua Conyers, Jonathan Woody, along with members of Opera Creole chorus. The Opera Lafayette Orchestra performs on modern and historical instruments. Opera Lafayette’s Artistic Director Designate Patrick Quigley conducts.
A video recording of “Morgiane” will take place at the live-performance on Feb. 7 at the University of Maryland, College Park. A live-performance feed will also be made available to the wider community at no cost to ensure accessibility.
Dédé, a fourth-generation free person of color born in 1827 in New Orleans, was a successful conductor and composer in Bordeaux, France. His “Morgiane” had yet to receive a premiere at the time of his death, and was abandoned in private collections and libraries for over a century. The manuscript was eventually discovered at the Harvard Memorial Library in 2010.
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