Ep 152: What's Black about Opera? with Denyce Graves

The Culture Soup Podcast®️

One of the most acclaimed mezzo sopranos of our time is joining me on The Culture Soup Podcast®, and I’m so proud to call her friend!
She debuted at the Metropolitan Opera, She’s sung for multiple Presidents. She is on the faculty at Juilliard. She even sang at the home going of Ruth Bader Ginsburg and she is on a mission to tell the story of Black people in opera.
Meet the prolific and lovely Denyce Graves-Montgomery! She is the Founder of the Denyce Graves Foundation, and she is dedicated to telling the stories of Black people in Opera that you’ve never heard before.
Tune in on Thursday to hear our conversation where we talk about the importance of seeing Black people in all aspects of Opera…from the stage to the composers, librettists and directors. We also talk about the importance of telling Black stories and seeing Black artist play characters that aren’t historically cast that way.
We also get into the issue of how the Black community can deem artists in this art form or the genre itself “not Black enough.”
What is Black?
What’s Black about the Opera?
We have answers, and you may be surprised.
It’s on the next episode of The Culture Soup Podcast®.
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