Booking and details
Register NowDates Thu, Jan 16, 2025, 6:30pm
Venue Folger Theatre
Tickets Free; registration requested
Opera Lafayette and Folger Shakespeare Library present an engaging talk exploring the music of Black composer Edmond Dédé (1827—1903), accompanied by selections from his opera Morgiane.
Vocal artist, improvisor, and composer currently in residence with the American Composers Orchestra Mali Irene leads a conversation with OperaCréole Founder and Artistic Director Givonna Joseph and classical music scholars about Dédé’s biography and musical legacy.
Before the talk, see the manuscript of Morgiane, the first known opera by a Black American composer, on display in the Folger’s Out of the Vault exhibition January 13 – February 28. The manuscript is on loan from Houghton Library, Harvard University.
Can’t join us in person?
Register for virtual access to a live streaming of the conversation.
About Morgiane
Did you know that the first complete opera by a Black American has been hidden in a single manuscript for over 130 years? Edmond Dédé, a fourth-generation free person of color born in 1827 New Orleans, had an incredibly successful career as a conductor and composer in Bordeaux, France, writing nearly 100 critically and popularly acclaimed works for the French stage. His magnum opus, however—a four act French grand opera on themes from Ali Baba and the 40 Thieves—had yet to receive a premiere at the time of his death, and languished, unrecognized, in private collections and libraries for over a century.
Opera Lafayette, with Artistic Director Designate Patrick Quigley, and in partnership with New Orleans’ Givonna Joseph, Founder of OperaCréole, has painstakingly transcribed this monumental work and will present the long overdue world premiere of Dédé’s masterpiece, 138 years after its composition.
Performances of Morgiane take place in February in locations in DC, New York, and New Orleans. Visit Opera Lafayette’s website for a schedule of performances.
Speakers
Givonna Joseph
As Founder and Artistic Director of the award-winning OperaCréole, Givonna Joseph’s research on 19th-century New Orleans free classical and operatic composers of color and Creole history and heritage was recently featured on NBC Nightly News, NPR, and in magazines such as Black Enterprise, 64 Parishes, and Atlas Obscura. Previous cover articles include BreakThru Media Magazine and NOLA Boomers magazine.
Since 2011, the international soloist, arts integration specialist, and university lecturer, along with her daughter, Aria Mason, OperaCréole co-founder, has received several honors for mounting lost or rarely heard operas by composers of color.
Mali Irene
Mali Irene (aka Malesha Taylor Browning) is a versatile vocal artist, composer, curator and educator. Her work spans from traditional and contemporary opera to experimental improvisation and cross-disciplinary public art. In traditional opera she has performed and covered principal roles with Los Angeles Opera in the productions of Don Carlo, Manon, Il Trittico: Sour Angelica and Porgy and Bess. She has also performed as Adalgisa in Norma with Union Avenue Opera and the role of Annie in Francesca Zambello’s filmed production of Porgy and Bess with San Francisco Opera. Among concert work, she has performed with the Boston Pops Orchestra, American Symphony Orchestra at Lincoln Center, Hollywood Bowl Orchestra, Pacific Symphony Orchestra to name a few.