Symposium offers insight on the African American experience within the art form
While live performance at venues and arts institutions sat dark because of a global pandemic, calls for racial justice and equality thundered in response to the murder of George Floyd by a former police officer last May in Minneapolis.
Opera Theatre of Saint Louis responded with reflection that led to actionable items – in programming and in initiatives to help lay the foundation for inclusion on stage, in the audience and behind the scenes.
Last month it partnered with Washington University’s Center for the Study of Race, Ethnicity & Equity to present “Belonging in Opera: Learning from Our Past, Engaging with Our Future.”
The two-day symposium made space for performers, academics, administrative professionals and composers to take part in an in-depth conversation on the Black experience within opera.
“For many of us, the last year has opened our eyes in new ways to the work that our field must undertake to realize the goal that opera can be for everyone and to ensure that every person who joins us whether on stage, back stage, in our offices or in the audience really feels that this wonderful art form really belongs to them,” said Andrew Jorgensen, general director of Opera Theatre of Saint Louis, as he welcomed guests to the virtual symposium.
Over the course of four-and-a-half hours on two separate Tuesdays, those immersed in the art form delivered brutally honest, eye-opening and engaging conversations and presentations were held that shed light on Black people’s struggle for inclusion within the historically white art form.
“Our symposium might give you the impression that Black folks are fully integrated into the opera today,” said University of Michigan professor, opera scholar and author Dr. Naomi Andre, who provided opening remarks for the symposium and moderated day two of the programming. “While many strides have been made, the sense of belonging is far from being achieved. From the 18th century through the middle of the 20th century, opera was officially – and legally – a segregated practice. Remember, we are still in the first generations of integrated opera.”
“We should be prioritizing the voices of Black composers”
– Afton Battler, General Director of Fort Worth Opera
Washington University Vice Provost Adrienne Davis represented both the Center for the Study of Race, Ethnicity & Equity and Opera Theatre of Saint Louis – where she serves as a board member– as moderator for the first panel.
Davis said that the purpose of the talk was to explore a trio of questions as it relates to Blacks in opera.
The questions included, ‘Whose stories are we telling? Who is empowered to tell these stories and who gets to hear these stories?”
“We should be prioritizing the voices of Black composers” said Afton Battle, recently appointed General Director of Forth Worth Opera. “Those who are living and also those who have become our ancestors. They are telling a story from the perspective of the black experience. And that is truly the only way we should be experiencing black stories.”
In day two, renowned soprano and music professor Nicole Cabell confessed that though she had sung in opera houses around the world, she has never performed a song by a Black woman composer.
“That’s how much they don’t exist – and how much we need them,” Cabell said.
The talk illustrated that the Black experience within opera mirrors society as a whole in many forms – from respectability politics, to representation.
Quodesia “Quo” Johnson, Education and Company Culture Manager for The Dallas Opera defined respectability as “a tool for those who power hoarding and those who believe they have a right to comfort white supremacy culture norms.”
“I have a right to be comfortable, so I want your hair to only be worn a certain way. I have a right to be comfortable around you, so I need you to use a particular dialect – or get rid of your accent,” Johnson said. “I have a right to be comfortable around you, so I don’t want you to be so passionate about your experiences, even if they are your own lived experiences.”
Bass Morris Robinson discussed the pressures he feels as a Black man on the opera stage.
“Because of my [type of] voice I play kings, gods, devils, fathers and priests. There is a lot of authority within these roles,” Robinson said. “Not only do I have to convince people of the character, but I have to convince people to hire me, my blackness can’t be a distraction to my authority of the role.”
That’s coupled with his innate desire to prove that he does belong in opera.
“The desire to prove that I’m not a fluke. The desire to prove that I’m just as artistic. The desire to prove that I am just as good with my languages,” Robinson said. “I take what I do very seriously because I feel like I carry the weight of everyone else on my shoulders.”
Battle said her sense of belonging comes when she knows she is not in a space just to prove how progressive something is.
“When I have the ability to be who I am,” Battle said. “When people shift, not just so that there is enough room, but an ample amount of room for us to move together.”
Marcia Sells. Chief Diversity Officer for the Metropolitan Opera, said she’s felt like she belonged in opera because someone was always telling her “these things are rightfully yours.”
‘And we need to figure out how to do that with everyone else,” Sells said.
Opera Theatre of Saint Louis’ season opens May 22 with Puccini’sGIANNI SCHICCHI and continues with famed Black composer William Grant Still’s HIGHWAY 1, USA. For more information, visit https://opera-stl.org/2021-festival-season
