Category: opera
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“Is This America?” The Fannie Lou Hamer Opera Premieres
In Boston, a remarkable new opera is being premiered this weekend. “Is This America? The Fannie Lou Hamer Story,” composed by Mary D. Watkins, with a libretto by Watkins and Cerise Jacobs. In this interview that aired on Boston’s WBUR, Mary Watkins describes how she decided to write an opera on the Civil Rights Movement…
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WPA News Digest – August 5, 2024
It’s August already! We hope your week and your month are off to a great start! *News Flash* — NYTimes article on Marianne Martines highlights the work of The Women’s Philharmonic and its co-founder, conductor Nan H. Washburn The Northern Chamber Orchestra of the UK has announced two new directors: violinist Zöe Beyers will be…
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All Hail The Tenth Muse! Part 2
By Dr. April Lynn James. Part 1 is published here My bestselling book,* The Tenth Muse: How Maria Antonia Advanced the Pastoral Opera, is a major revision of the dissertation I completed in 2002. Why did I not publish it then? I had other things to do with my life at the time. I had just…
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All Hail The Tenth Muse! Part 1
By Dr. April Lynn James Affectionately known as The PhDiva!!!, Dr. April is a classically trained soprano with a PhD from Harvard best known for her groundbreaking work returning operas composed by women to the world’s stages. She survived her Harvard doctoral studies—aka, “boot camp for book lovers”—by getting away from the computer and engaging…