From The HistoryMakers of Chicago IL: "Fire Shut Up In My Bones"

Multiple Grammy Award winning musician and prolific composer, Terence Blanchard, has made history with his opera, “Fire Shut Up in My Bones,” the very first work by a black composer to grace the stage of the Metropolitan Opera. 

Blanchard’s opera opened Monday night, September 27, 2021.

TICKETS AVAILABLE HERE

In his 2014 HistoryMakers interview, Blanchard described how his father exposed him to opera: “From what I have gathered it was Mr. Osceola Blanchet's vision to introduce young African American males to the world of opera… My dad met him through the church, as a young man… I thought he was my grandfather for the longest time, you know, because that's the relationship him and my dad had. And he taught all of these young men and some of them were bitten by the bug.” 

Blanchard, who has toured with jazz legends Lionel Hampton and Art Blakey, and has scored 20 films by Spike Lee as well as Kasi Lemmons’s Harriet, seems to have caught the opera bug, too.

Credit to The HistoryMakers: Soprano Latonia Moore in Fire Shut Up in My Bones

Fire, based on the New York Times columnist Charles M. Blow’s memoir of his turbulent upbringing in Louisiana, is indicative of Blanchard’s commitment to showcasing work relevant to the black community: 

“In order for you to create your art that's meaningful it has to be of the community, it has to be of your world. You know, and I look at what we do as kind of like being a documentarian so to speak… you can help heal people through this process of creating something so beautiful and powerful. You know, so that's always been my mission."

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ABOUT

Terence Blanchard (b. 1962) is a celebrated composer whose many works express his roots in jazz but defy further categorization. A prolific creator in a wide variety of forms and genres, he is especially celebrated for his close collaboration with director Spike Lee and his accomplishments as an award-winning composer of more than 60 film scores. Charles M. Blow (b. 1970) is a noted journalist and commentator. He is a regularly featured op-ed columnist for The New York Times and an anchor for the Black News Channel. The libretto for Fire Shut Up in My Bones marks the first foray into opera for Kasi Lemmons (b. 1961), a noted writer, actress, and director.