Cincinnati Opera announced The Black Opera Project on February 8, 2024, a $5 million initiative to commission three new operas by Black creators. The project grew out of a Mellon Foundation grant, with lead funding for the first opera from the David C. Herriman Fund of Greater Cincinnati Foundation.

The first commission is “Lalovavi,” an Afrofuturist grand opera in three acts with music by Kevin Day, libretto by Tifara Brown, and stage direction and dramaturgy by Kimille Howard. It premieres June 19 and 21, 2025, at Cincinnati Music Hall with conductor Kevin Miller leading the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra. The opera is set in the year 2119 in a renamed Atlanta and is sung primarily in English with portions in the constructed Tut language.

The second opera, about the life of Congressman John Lewis, is composed by Maria Thompson Corley with a libretto by Diana Solomon Glover and stage direction by Timothy Douglas. It is scheduled for Cincinnati Opera’s 2026 Summer Festival. A third commission has not yet been announced.

Source: Cincinnati Opera