South Shore Opera Company of Chicago: 'Composers Unmasked,' Music from Operas by 3 Black Composers Sun. Oct. 25, 2015 at 5 PM

www.southshoreopera.org

South Shore Opera Company of Chicago presents its Annual Fall Event, with a preview of arias and duets from operas by three Black composers: L’amant anonyme and Ernestine by Le Chevalier de Saint-Georges (18th century); Voodoo by Harry Lawrence Freeman (20th century); and Harriet Tubman: When I Crossed That Line to Freedom by Nkeiru Okoye (contemporary). This beautiful music is rarely or never heard live, and the Harriet Tubman is from a new opera that South Shore Opera hopes to bring to Chicago.

The works of these composers will be performed by TreDiva, Chicago’s own critically acclaimed operatic sopranos, Jonita Lattimore, Elizabeth Sojourner, and Anisha McFarland. These classically trained and highly talented artists have performed at Carnegie Hall, The White House, The Kennedy Center, The Lyric Opera of Chicago, and in Italy, Paris, Vienna, Mexico, Costa Rica, across Africa, and many other very prestigious stages in the United States and abroad.

 

South Shore Opera Company of Chicago’s annual ticketed production with dining and entertainment funds our two free productions. South Shore Opera makes opera and musical theater accessible to an underserved audience and presents the work of forgotten Black and lesser-known composers while providing greater opportunity for diverse artists to perform in professional productions.

 

        Sunday, October 25, 2015

        Reception and Auction 4:30PM ● Opera 5PM ● Dinner/Entertainment 6:15PM

        South Shore Cultural Center, Robeson Theater, 7059 South Shore Drive, Chicago, IL 60649

       

Ticketed event $100 – Opera Performance Only at 5 p.m. -- $50

Information/tickets: www.southshoreopera.org or call Bobbie Greer at 773-667-0241

 

 

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Chevalier de Saint-Georges, Harry L. Freeman, and Nkeiru Okoye are reasons you should not limit your appreciation of music to those with whom you are familiar. COME AND HAVE A LISTEN! Freeman's "Voodoo" tells of a house servant in love with the plantation overseer, only to find out her friend desires him as well; Saint-Georges' "L'amant anonyme" is a story of a wealthy aristocrat who becomes the confidant of a beautiful woman after her husband leaves, and who anonymously pursues her with love letters and presents; "Ernestine" tells of the love between an innocent young apprentice painter and one of her subjects, an elegant handsome aristocrat; and Okoye's "Harriet Tubman: When I Crossed That Line to Freedom" not only tells of an escaped slave that led others to freedom, but also exposes a vulnerable personal side of Harriet and her sister Rachel in Rachel's aria, "I Want a Man."