In 2021, Terence Blanchard made history when he became the first Black composer to stage an opera — “Fire Shut Up in My Bones” — at New York City’s Metropolitan Opera.
Coupled with a libretto based on Charles M. Blow’s book of the same title and featuring Tony Award-nominee Camille A. Brown‘s choreography, “Fire” was a sensation as audiences returned to the New York stage amid COVID-19.
Last week, “Champion,” another Blanchard-composed opera, premiered at the Met. This project is special because it’s actually Blanchard’s very first opera.
The five-time Grammy-winning trumpeter and composer first wrote “Champion” with librettist Michael Christofer over a decade ago. The show premiered in 2013 in St. Louis and would go on to play in San Francisco, Washington D.C., and Boston.
For “Champion,” Brown returns as the choreographer, bringing her encyclopedic knowledge of Black dance to this ambitious production. Blanchard and Brown spoke with theGrio about “Champion,” collaborating and bringing Black stories to opera.
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