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Carlos
Gomes' Lo Schiavo
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Gershwin's
Porgy & Bess
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Matthews’
Journin
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History
From performances of
Mozart in Harlem to African-American Heritage
concerts in Iceland - Gershwin in Moscow to Duke Ellington in the Caribbean, Opera Ebony is considered
one of the world's great cultural treasures. Benjamin Matthews, Sister Mary
Elise S.B.S. and Wayne Sanders founded Opera Ebony in 1973. Since then, the
company has served as a professional platform for thousands of American
artists, administrators and technical staff helping them to refine their
talent and perfect their craft.
In New York City,
Opera Ebony has performed at Lincoln Center, Carnegie Hall, the Brooklyn
Academy of Music (651 Performing Arts Center), The Metropolitan Museum of
Art,The World Trade Center, The Beacon Theatre, Langston Hughes Theatre
(Schomburg Center for Research and Black Culture) and the Manhattan Center.
Additionally, for ten years the company presented grand opera at
Philadelphia's Academy of Music.
Since 1988, Opera
Ebony's impressive repertoire has delighted overflowing audiences
throughout the United States and in Brazil, Russia, Estonia, Sweden, Finland, Iceland, Canada, Switzerland and Martinique. The company has also
partnered with several major international orchestras, opera companies and
music festivals including the Icelandic Symphony Orchestra, the Finnish
National Opera, the Estonia Philharmonic and the Savolinna Music Festival.
In 1998, Opera Ebony
was selected as the only American opera company to perform for the opening
of the Novaya Opera House in Moscow, Russia. During the winter of 2000,
members of Opera Ebony appeared in performance and engaging conversation on
the PBS GREAT PERFORMANCES series - Aida's
Brothers and Sisters: Black voices in Opera. For Black History Month
2001, the company joined with the Metropolitan Museum of Art to present the
premiere workshop performance of Harriet Tubman,
a new opera / musical theatre work by acclaimed American composer, Leo
Edwards.
Notable world
premieres and commissioned works include Frederick
Douglass (Dorothy Rudd Moore, 1985); Sojourner
Truth (Valerie Capers, 1986); The
Outcast (Noah Ain, 1990); Oh Freedom
(Lena McLin and Benjamin Matthews, 1990); Journin'
(Benjamin Matthews 1991); The Meetin'
(Pamela Baskin Watson, commissioned by Opera Ebony and the Jerome
Foundation, 1998).
Current projects
include Harriet Tubman by Leo Edwards (commissioned
by Opera Ebony and the Linda Gale Sampson Charitable Trust) and the remounting
of The Meetin' for touring throughout North America.
Opera Ebony is the
longest surviving African-American opera company in American history.
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History