On Monday, the new season of the New York Metropolitan Opera opens with the classic "Porgy and Bess". The piece depicts the life of African Americans, but was composed by George Gershwin, the libretto is from a white creative team. Now the Met announces that it will premiere the opera of a black composer for the first time.
The work is titled "Fire Shut Up in My Bones" and was written by jazz trumpeter Terence Blanchard. It is based on the memoirs of journalist Charles M. Blow, whose book appeared under the same title. The opera premiered at the Opera Theater of Saint Louis in June and was a milestone in American media.
The New York Times quotes Metropolitan Opera manager Peter Gelb as saying Blanchard is "a brilliant composer". When exactly the opera premiere in New York will celebrate, is therefore not yet finally resolved, it is possible in the season 2021/22. Whether "Fire Shut Up in My Bones" will be played on the main stage in the Lincoln Center or on one of the side stages, is not yet clear. The piece will be conducted by Yannick Nézet-Séguin, musical director of the Met.
Terence Blanchard is considered one of the leading jazz trumpeters in the USA. He played with Lionel Hampton and Branford Marsalis. He also wrote soundtracks for various films, many of them by Spike Lee. These include "Jungle Fever", "Malcolm X", "Inside Man" and "Chi-Raq". In 2010 he received a Grammy in the Best Jazz Instrumental Solo Performance category for his title "Dancin '4 Chicken".