The performance also featured several gripping dance sequences, including a collegiate step-dancing number that brought the audience to its feet with applause midway through the second act. "This is just America."īlanchard's jazz-inflected score ushered the powerful show with a world-class set through a number of emotional scenes. "There's so many black composers who probably could have done this 50 years ago, 75 years ago," the 54-year-old education consultant said. 'Momentous thing'Ībout an hour before thousands of people dressed in evening-wear – including a parade of vibrant jewel-toned gowns and feathered shifts – began sashaying into the storied house at Lincoln Center, a long line formed outside an open-air amphitheater in Harlem for a simulcast of "Fire."Īmong that audience was Linda Talton, who called it "sad" that it took the Met more than a century to feature the work of a black composer. Deep South, grappling with racism and abuse, sexuality and inner rage.īlanchard, 59, is a showbiz regular: he's scored dozens of films during a vibrant career that has included working with greats like Herbie Hancock, Dr.
The book recounts his coming-of-age as a black boy in the U.S. With a libretto from film director Kasi Lemons, "Fire" is based on the searing memoir of Charles Blow, a columnist at The New York Times. Louis, Missouri, is Blanchard's second opera.
"Fire," which originally premiered in St. It's progress "bigger than me," the Grammy-winning, Oscar-nominated artist told Agence France-Presse (AFP) when the Met first announced it would produce "Fire." "It says more about what's going on in our country what's going on in the world of art. Reopening the Met's doors with Blanchard's work offered an opportunity to make a statement.
The Metropolitan Opera is the largest performing arts institution in the U.S., but in its 138 years of existence has never before presented an opera by a black composer.
Actor Will Liverman (C) and cast members perform a scene during a rehearsal for Terence Blanchard's "Fire Shut Up in My Bones," at the Metropolitan Opera in New York, Sept.
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