Life & Times of Malcolm X @ UPAC
Anthony Davis’s groundbreaking opera, which premiered in 1986, arrives at the Met at long last. Robert O’Hara, who was nominated for a Tony Award in 2020 for his direction of Slave Play, oversees a new staging that imagines Malcolm as an everyman whose story transcends time and space. A cast of breakout artists take part in the operatic retelling of Malcolm X’s life. Baritone Will Liverman, who triumphed in the Met premiere of Terence Blanchard’s Fire Shut Up in My Bones, sings Malcolm. Soprano Leah Hawkins plays his mother, Louise; mezzo-soprano Raehann Bryce-Davis is his sister Ella; bass-baritone Michael Sumuel is his brother Reginald; and tenor Victor Ryan Robertson is the Nation of Islam leader Elijah Muhammad. Kazem Abdullah conducts the newly revised score, which provides a layered, jazz-inflected setting for the esteemed writer Thulani Davis’s libretto.
Ticket holders are invited to a pre-opera talk by Leslie Gerber 30 minutes prior to curtain time in the theater.
Made possible through the support of Premier Medical Group, the Jane W. Nuhn Charitable Trust, the Dr. Edwin Ulrich Charitable Trust, the Benjamin R. Strong Opera Fund and the Stephen & Julia Dunwell Fund, both of the Community Foundations of the Hudson Valley. Promotional support courtesy of WMHT – FM 88.7 Poughkeepsie.
Reminder: This is a live satellite broadcast direct from the Metropolitan Opera House in New York City. On occasion there may be visual or sound disturbances that are beyond the Bardavon’s control. In the event a disturbance does occur, please be patient. Thank you.
