Washington National Opera presents Blue, a contemporary opera about racial injustice in today's US, with a libretto by Tazewell Thompson and music by Jeanine Tesori. Blue tells the tragic story of an African American police officer whose son is killed by a colleague during a protest. The piece resonates strongly with the Black Lives Matter movement, but is also groundbreaking thanks to its intimate and layered portrayal of African American family life on the opera stage. Historically and musically, Blue tells a story in a compassionate way that is simultaneously painful and recognizable to so many of us.
The Music Critics Association of America named Blue "Best New Opera" of 2020, while the Financial Times praised it as "an exceptionally strong new opera about race in America", and praised Tesori's music as "eclectic, yet assured, full of beauty and eloquence." The piece is performed by an excellent cast of vocalists, including Kenneth Kellogg as The Father, Briana Hunter as The Mother, and Aaron Crouch as The Son, while The Washington National Opera Orchestra is conducted by rising star conductor Roderick Cox.
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