On September 28th – just last night – the Metropolitan Opera opened its season with a performance of the new opera Fire Shut Up in My Bones by the American composer Terence Blanchard.

As I write this post this morning, rave reviews are pouring in for Blanchard, for the librettist Kasi Lemmons, for the choreographer Camilla A Brown, for the singers, and for everyone else who played a role in the creation of this new work. Could it be the new American master opera we have been waiting for? All the signs are there that it is.

Please note too that the opera is based on the book of the same title by Charles M. Blow.

But Dare We Say, We Were There First

Well, nearly anyway. Because back in 2018, our intrepid interviewer and blogger Opera Joe McKesson interviewed composer Terence Blanchard on the occasion of the premiere of an earlier opera that was about to have its first performances at the New Orleans Opera. That opera, Champion, was based on the life of boxer Emile Griffith.

We are pleased to republish here, on the Classical Archives vLog, a video of that interview between Opera Joe and Terence Blanchard. Before his current masterpiece, Blanchard was writing others.

Learn all about it here . . .