![]() ![]() That’s not quite how it landed with me: Rather, under the baton of Daniela Candillari, you hear Blanchard’s driving confidence in operatic mode, both harmonic and dissident, both aware of European formative precedent and sharply critical in subtle ways. And while it may seem paradoxical, given the theme, Thursday was filled with constant joy.īlanchard’s work is often described as contemporary opera infused with gospel, blues and jazz. Lyric has presented operas about most every subject under the sun but it’s still impossible to imagine this in the repertoire even half a generation ago. Louis in 2019 and thus the Lyric’s production is not just a return to the Midwest but a landing in a city where generations of talented young Black men from small-town Louisiana long have aspired to go, once they’d decided to escape to points north.Īdd to all of that the subject matter of the opera: a prodigiously talented man from Louisiana (Liverman) trying to recover his life following an incident of childhood abuse by a visiting cousin (played by Chris Kenney), a man looking back on his boyhood and confronting both his own shame and his lack of protection by adults, both his brothers and his mother Billie (the soprano Latonia Moore). The piece premiered in a more intimate setting at the Opera of St. Much of this also was true, of course, when “Fire” opened at the Metropolitan Opera in New York last September, with much the same company and creative team. The audience was more diverse than any opening night at this august institution than I’ve ever attended. “His word was in mine heart as a burning fire shut up in my bones, and I was weary with forbearing, and I could not stay.”įor these two nights, audiences will feel the visceral power of Blanchard’s visionary opera.Will Liverman and company in "Fire Shut Up in My Bones" at Lyric Opera. The rage and violence that were kindled within him and his desire for revenge inspired the book and opera title, adapted from the Book of Jeremiah: Operatic baritone Will Liverman who performed the central role of Blow at the Met and soprano Karen Slack from the premiere performances at Opera Theatre of Saint Louis reprise their roles for these evenings in Miner Auditorium.īlow’s candid 2014 autobiography recounts his struggles to define his manhood, sexuality, and personal values in the rural South of the 1970s, and his attempts to break free from the repression imposed upon him by his family, his church, and his college life. The NYC performances marked the first time an opera written by a Black composer or a Black librettist has been staged at the Met in the organization’s 136-year history. ![]() With a libretto written by NAACP Image Award-winning actress, director, and screenwriter Kasi Lemmons, Fire Shut Up in My Bones premiered at Opera Theatre of Saint Louis in 2019 and opened the 2021-22 season at the Metropolitan Opera in New York in September 2021. Blow’s powerful memoir chronicling his early life in rural Louisiana. "A fresh, affecting work … Poetic, poignant, sometimes grimly funny, always dramatically effective." - The New York Timesįollowing up the 2016 world premiere of a revised version of Terence Blanchard’s opera Champion: An Opera in Jazz, these historic performances featuring the GRAMMY-winning Turtle Island Quartet and operatic vocalists Will Liverman and Karen Slack will focus on music from Blanchard’s groundbreaking new opera Fire Shut Up in My Bones, based on journalist and author Charles M.
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