Blue (opera)
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| Blue | |
|---|---|
| Opera by Jeanine Tesori | |
| Librettist | Tazewell Thompson |
| Language | English |
| Premiere | |
Blue is an opera in two acts with music by Jeanine Tesori and libretto by Tazewell Thompson. It premiered at the Glimmerglass Festival in 2019 and received the Music Critics Association of North America 2020 Award for Best New Opera.[1][2]
The opera was commissioned by the Glimmerglass Festival in 2015[3] to address contemporary issues around race.[4] Composer Jeanine Tesori, whose 2011 opera A Blizzard on Marblehead Neck had previously been commissioned by Glimmerglass, was asked to write the music.[4] When playwright Tazewell Thompson, a director of several productions at Glimmerglass, was asked to suggest a librettist, he proposed writing one himself; inspired by sources such as James Baldwin's The Fire Next Time, Ta-Nehisi Coates' Between the World and Me, and Claude Brown's Manchild in the Promised Land, he drafted the libretto in six months.[5] When Tesori asked whether the Father character could be a police officer instead of a jazz saxophone player, Thompson initially resisted but later decided to pursue the idea.[3][5]
Inside Blue, a documentary about the opera, was streamed on WQXR in August and September 2020.[6]
Performance history
The opera was premiered at the Glimmerglass Festival on July 14, 2019, with direction by the librettist Tazewell Thompson.[7] Additional productions scheduled at the Washington National Opera, Lyric Opera of Chicago, Minnesota Opera, and Lincoln Center's Mostly Mozart Festival were cancelled or postponed due to COVID-19.[3][8][9] The opera was performed by Michigan Opera Theatre,[10] with additional performances scheduled at Seattle Opera,[11] Pittsburgh Opera,[12] and Toledo Opera.[13][14] Blue had its European premiere in Amsterdam performed by the Dutch National Opera in November 2022.[15] The opera was also performed by English National Opera in April to May 2023[16] and by Lyric Opera of Chicago in November 2024.[17]
Roles
| Role | Voice type | Premiere cast[18] 14 July 2019 Conductor: John DeMain |
|---|---|---|
| The Father | bass | Kenneth Kellogg |
| The Mother | mezzo-soprano | Briana Hunter |
| The Son | tenor | Aaron Crouch |
| The Reverend | baritone | Gordon Hawkins |
| Girlfriend 1/Nurse/Congregant 1 | soprano | Ariana Wehr |
| Girlfriend 2/Congregant 2 | soprano | Brea Renetta Marshall |
| Girlfriend 3/Congregant 3 | mezzo-soprano | Mia Athey |
| Policeman 1/Congregant 1 | tenor | Camron Gray |
| Policeman 2/Congregant 2 | tenor | Edward Graves |
| Policeman 3/Congregant 3 | baritone | Nicholas Davis |
