Opera

Observer Opera Reviews: Edmond Dédé’s Morgiane

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Joshua Conyers, Mary Elizabeth Williams, Chauncey Packer and Patrick Quigley. Jennifer Packard, Courtesy of Opera Lafayette In Bordeaux in 1887, New Orleans-born composer Edmond Dédé finished an opera called Morgiane and, perhaps unknowingly, made history. His magnum opus is the oldest grand opera and the first known opera by a Black American composer. Sometime after … Read more

Opera Reviews: Heartbeat Opera’s ‘Salome’ Dares Us to Look

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David Morgans, Melina Jaharis, Jeremy Harr and Nathaniel Sullivan in Salome. Photo: Andrew Boyle Almost everyone in Salome wants something they shouldn’t. A king desires his stepdaughter, a servant desires a princess and a princess desires a prisoner with equal parts fascination and repulsion. We, too, look upon them all with horror and a shameful … Read more