Dorceal Duckens, right, sings during the Houston
Ebony Opera Guild's choir rehearsal on Monday, Nov. 18, 2019, at
Westbury United Methodist Church. Photo: Annie Mulligan, Houston Chronicle / Contributor
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writes:
See Houston Chronicle article about Houston Ebony Opera
https://www.houstonchronicle.com/news/houston-texas/houston/article/Houston-Ebony-Opera-tries-to-hold-onto-legacy-as-14869537.php
Houston Chronicle
Houston Ebony Opera continues legacy of highlighting African-American talent
The piano hums inside a small, orange-and-gray room
at a church on the southwest side of Houston. The voices of
African-American singers, old and young, rise to the ceiling and waft
down the hall as they practice for their coming Christmas concert.
At
the center of it all on a recent Monday night is Kiana Williams, who is
wearing a colorful floral dress and sits behind the conductor’s stand
during their choir rehearsal at Westbury United Methodist Church.
Williams diligently hammers out vocal parts for each section of the
choir and sings along with them, making sure they have the notes
correct.
The Houston Ebony Opera Guild, founded in 1983 by the late Prairie View
A&M University music professor Robert Henry, is trying to hold on to
its legacy by attracting younger talent as longtime members get older.
The group provides African-American singers an opportunity to perform
in concerts across the city, where they sing a range of tunes, including
opera, African-American spirituals and other works of music.
The group is among only a handful like it in the
country, according to Jason Oby, the guild’s artistic director. During
this year’s concert season, the choir hopes to focus on African-American
women, performing works by female composers and using conductors such
as Williams to lead concerts.
“Especially
since the field is so dominant of men,” said Williams, assistant
professor of music and the choir director at Texas Southern University.
“Then, it’s also dominant of people of other ethnicities, white
conductors and composers in the area of music. So, women, especially
black women, are a huge minority in the field.”
Founder saw a need
Oby
moved to Houston in 1996, the same year the opera guild’s founder,
Henry, passed away. Oby said Henry, a beloved music professor at Prairie
View A&M, created the group so his students could have a place to
show off their skills.
“He
perceived that there needed to be a venue that they could perform in
that would show them in the light (in which) they deserved to be shone
in,” said Oby, 56.
When
the group first began, the concerts started out as occasional, with a
variety of music from African-American spirituals to opera. A regular
schedule soon sprang up and the group began performing elaborate opera
performances at Miller Outdoor Theater.
He recalls serving a variety of roles within the
organization, performing many solos on stage and taking on lead roles
during the opera performances at Miller. He eventually was asked to
become the artistic director.
Oby,
Texas Southern University’s chair for the department of music, said he
wants to pass the guild’s tradition on to younger generations. He
enlisted Williams, his fellow coworker at Texas Southern University. The
36-year-old also fulfills the guild’s goal to feature African-American
women composers.
“Dr.
Williams represents a lot of things that I have in my mind where I want
to see the organization go, which is youth, energy, new ideas, women
participation,” Oby said.
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