Opera and musical theater have a lengthy history as vehicles for the expression of political ideologies, national identities, and the dynamics of race, class, and gender. The Black American composer H. Lawrence Freeman (1869–1954) regarded opera as uniquely suited to tell the stories of the African diasporic experience. Black composers, librettists, and performers have embraced opera despite its roots in whiteness and colonialism.

Yet American operatic institutions have resisted embracing them back: in the United States, Black opera composers like Freeman, Scott Joplin (1868–1917), and William Grant Still (1895–1978) found the obstacles to staging their operas nearly insurmountable, in spite of their otherwise successful compositional careers. Similarly, the opera of Cuban American composer Tania León (b. 1943) is performed in Europe, but rarely in the U.S. Black singers have fared little better, often denied entry into the opera house in all but a few, racialized roles.

This symposium addresses the topic of Black Opera in its most capacious sense, with research papers on the composition, production, performance, history, and criticism of Black opera and the experiences of Black practitioners (composers, librettists, producers, performers, etc.) in the field of opera. We also celebrate and bring attention to Black opera composers through performances of their work.

Program Overview

There will be no fee to participate in or to attend the symposium and concert, but we will ask participants to register.