 live on YouTube. Start the webinar. We're live. Hi everyone. Wow. Okay. I already see the numbers just filling. Hello friends. We're going to give it this minute to get the room filled. We have a lot of folks registered. And we thank you for being here tonight. Welcome friends. I'm going to put the link for tonight's document in the chat box. This has links to library resources. As well as the links to the SF Opera. And as our presenter talks, I'll continue to add links and share them with you. Good evening friends. We'll get started in just a minute. Welcome. All right. I'm going to let it get to 110. And then I'm going to start the library announcements. Welcome everybody. And welcome YouTube viewers. Hi. How are you? I'm going to share tonight's links on YouTube as well. And I'm going to share one more time here in our Zoom room. Let's get started. All right. Thank you all for being here. This is a really special event. And I'm excited to have our presenter Cole back with us again and in the virtual library this time. And we'll be discussing Black Voices in American Opera. This is part of our more than a month celebration, which is San Francisco Public Library's version of Black History Month. And we like to really go hard starting about at Kwanzaa until about the end of February. But then we definitely celebrate all year round. Black History is not just one month. And we like to make that happen all year round. I want to let you all know that our library acknowledges that we are on the unceded and ancestral homeland of the Ramayutishaloni people, who the original inhabitants of the San Francisco Peninsula. We want to recognize that we benefit from living and working on their traditional homeland. And as uninvited guests, we affirm their sovereign rights as first peoples. We want to pay our respects to the ancestors, elders, and relatives of the Ramayutish community who are still here. I encourage you to check out these links I just put in the chat box, particularly Sigourte Land Trust and all women led Indigenous land back movement out of Oakland. They're amazing, matriarch amazingness. At the library, we have a lot of things happening. I encourage you all to come down to see this beautiful exhibition towards a Black aesthetic featuring the work of Kenneth P. Green Seniors. These amazing, if you have any inkling of having that 70s aesthetic, you've got to come to this because it is really, there's a bear, a person on a bear rug just is amazing. So come check this out. It'll be on exhibit throughout the end of April. And the photos are just stunning. So come check that out. On Tuesday, we are going to be celebrating Tuesday, February 27th or on the same page, which is our bi-monthly read where we encourage all of San Francisco to read the same book at the same time. And we are celebrating the book on the rooftop, which is a beautiful book celebrating San Francisco, celebrating the Fillmore District. It hits on family ties, family drama, and gentrification in the Fillmore District. It's a gorgeous book, and Margaret Wilkerson Sexton will be in Convo with the amazing historian and librarian, Dorothy Lazard. And this will be happening offsite of the library, which is another reason why I really want everyone to come out and show what we can do at an offsite location. African American Art and Cultural Complex 762 Bolton Street. Just you can almost see it from the library. So it's not far. It's a beautiful space. Come join us. 7 p.m. The show starts. Also, we're giving away both of their books at the event. So you'll also get a free book, two free books. Coming up in the virtual library, we have Dr. Tanisha Ford in Convo with Tiffany E. Barber on African American Women in Fashion. And then Dr. Jacqueline Francis, who is an amazing human and a great conversationalist, will be in Convo with Virginia Smiley on the works of Sergeant Claude, Sergeant Claude Johnson, February 29th. And Sunday, February 25th, 2 p.m. And the correct auditorium will be celebrating all that is Muni with the book, Muni is My Ride. If you're from San Francisco, most of us love Muni, even if we don't write it. It's iconic. The logo is iconic. Everything about it is iconic. And we will also be giving away 80 free books at this event. So it's first come, first serve on this one. And we'll also be talking to Muni drivers. So we have a panel of three Muni drivers, the artist and the author on hand. Sure to be a fun event. All right. So tonight, we're going to have an amazing conversation with the educational content curator, Cole Thomas Redis. He's going to be talking about a historical music survey of Black voices in American opera. We're going to ask that your questions be put in the Q&A feature. And that is in the bottom of your toolbar. And we will get to those at the end of the presentation. And what else do I want to say? In addition to celebrating these iconic voices, we will discuss institutional and societal barriers that have often existed within the art form, and the corrective and equality based efforts taken by the San Francisco opera to combat this. Without further ado, I'm going to turn it over to Cole Thomas Redis. Take it away. Thank you so much, Lisa. And thank you to this San Francisco Public Library for having us. I have so much content to share with you. So many amazing performances. So I'm going to jump right in and share my screen. And away we go. So as Anisa just announced, this is Black Voices in American Opera. In celebration of Black History Month, San Francisco Opera is proud to partner with San Francisco Public Library presenting you with this historical and musical survey of Black Voices in American Opera. I'm Cole Thomas and Redis with the Department of Diversity, Equity, and Community at San Francisco Opera. And as I said, I have a lot of amazing performances to share with you this evening. And so I just want to make the note that all video and audio content shared in this presentation is publicly accessible on YouTube. And we will be sharing those links with you later on so that you can go back and listen to all these fabulous performances. And we are going to start those performances with a magical moment from our 2023 fall season at San Francisco Opera. Well, if you were following our 101st season at San Francisco Opera, you know very well that that was a scene from Omar, the Pulitzer Prize-winning opera by Rhianna Giddens and Michael Avels, which had its premiere at the Spoleto Festival USA in 2022 and had its San Francisco Opera premiere just this last fall in 2023. And that was a co-commission with San Francisco Opera, among many other opera companies throughout the United States. And now from 2023, we are going to go back in time to September 18, 1966. The popular game show What's My Line took place every Sunday. I hope it's at 10 o'clock, so a little too late for the kids to watch. But from what I'm told, it was not to be missed by the adults in America. And here's an excerpt from an episode way back when. And please excuse me, I seem to have accidentally skipped that, so we are going to go back and try that one more time. My apologies, everyone. I was assuming that the rain was going to make for bad internet instead it is making for bad buttons on Zoom. But we are going to get there. And I think this will do. With our first mystery challenger, enter and sign in, please. Paddle, as you know, we have a different form of questioning which will apply here, because we have two mystery guests tonight. You ask one question at a time, in turn moving clockwise. We give you absolutely no prior advice or knowledge at all. You just start cold and we'll begin cold with Phyllis Newman. Oh, thank you. I'm just going to plunge right in. If I tuned my television set in every, say, Wednesday night or some other night, would I see you on a regular television show? No. Oh. One down and nine to go. Woody Allen. You are in the entertainment field, though. Yes. Miss Francis. Are you a picture personality? No. Two down and eight to go, Mr. Sir. You have anything whatever to do with the sport world? Three down and seven to go, Phyllis Newman. Do you sing? Yes. Mr. Allen. Did you ever make the statement, we will bury you? Four down and six to go, Miss Francis. I'm going to take a while against from the quality of the voice and ask if you are now singing at Basin Street. Five down and five to go, Ben Sir. I don't know. Just to make sure, you are a male personality. Six down and four to go, Phyllis Newman. This isn't a question. This is a statement. You're a girl? That's right. This is a girl. Uh, girl. Funny. Are you in nightclubs? No. Seven down and three to go, Mr. Allen. Do you fiddle around at all with opera? Yes. Miss Francis. This is Leontine Price. Mr. Say is but an extension of that glorious Friday night when you launched our Metropolitan so gloriously, our new Metropolitan so gloriously in, uh, as Cleopatra, Cleopatra, Cleopatra. You wouldn't like to do an aria for us right this morning. All right. So again, that was an excerpt from an episode of What's My Line, uh, which first premiered September 18th, 1966. And that was two nights after the opening of what was then the new Metropolitan Opera House in New York, uh, at which the title of the evening was Samuel Barber's Anthony and Cleopatra. That was a world premiere of that opera. And in the title role of Cleopatra, we had none other than Leontine Price. So in 1966, it seemed always well in America. We had a game show where the top celebrities just loved to attend. And here we had a black opera singer and everybody knew who she was. So again, always well in 1966 America. And of course, we know that that is not the case. And that, uh, for a long time there had been issues in America, surrounding race. And of course it was 1619 in Jamestown. The first, uh, systematic slave trade, ship of slave traders, uh, came to the shores. And at that time opera already existed. It was in 1519, excuse me, 1597. Uh, that's the composer Yacobo Pari premiered his Daphne. So slavery and opera all began around the same time. And when we use the word black opera, a few things come to mind. Are we talking about opera by black people, opera performed by black people, opera performed for black people? Uh, very often when I use the term black opera, some of the first things that people might say to me is, oh, Gershwin and Porgy and Bess. And as wonderful an opera as Porgy and Bess is, it is not black opera. And it's important to note that is instead a opera by a white composer with words by white librettists based on, uh, a white culture's version of a black story. And so that is very different than opera that is composed by a black composer or composed for a black audience. It was, however, an opera in which the entire cast other than the white policeman had to be black and that was groundbreaking at the time. And we'll get into a bit more of that as we move on. But again, Porgy and Bess is not a black opera and it certainly was not the first black opera. In fact, in 1868, the composer John Thomas Douglas, uh, premiered his opera Virginia's Ball. Unfortunately, the score is lost. There are, of course, no recordings, so we can only imagine what Virginia's Ball sounded like. Later in 1900, Theodore Dury, uh, opened the first black opera company where the people on stage, the people behind the stage, and most people in the audience were members of Black America. And their first performance on May 14th, 1900 was a performance of Carmen. As well throughout the Harlem Renaissance from 1918 to mid 1930s, black opera was flourishing in New York City. You had several opera companies, all of which performed nothing but black opera performed by black people or black people composed by black people. But again, often when I say the term black opera, people immediately think of Porgy and Bess, which although not a black opera, it did bring black voices and their music to a white audience. And so for that reason, you're now going to listen to an excerpt from Porgy and Bess, again by George Gershwin, words by Eric Gershwin, among others. And this, we are going to see the excerpt from Bess, You Is My Woman Now with Eric Owens and Angel Blue. And this is at the Metropolitan Opera with David Robinson conducting. Such a passionate score. It's hard not to let that continue. And what beautiful performances by Eric Owens and Angel Blue. We're going to hear more from them later. And of course, that was George Gershwin's Porgy and Bess, which first premiered in 1935. But again, Porgy and Bess is not a black opera. Nor are we even here to talk about black operas. We could have an entire series of sessions just talking about black operas in terms of operas composed by black people. Instead, we are here to talk about voices in American opera, black voices in American opera. And so what do we mean by black voices? They're of course, the iconic stars on the stage of operas, and they are black voices of opera. But of course, there's also composers who express their own voice in their writing. So we're going to start out by listening to a few of the pioneering composers and black music. And it's also important to note, as we go through this survey this evening, that it is impossible to share with you every wonderful performance by a black voice or even to name every black voice that is out there and has been out there through history. This is instead a survey to share a few of my favorites, both in terms of the performers themselves, but also the recordings and the performances themselves. So with that in mind, let's jump into a few composers starting with one you know very well, Scott Joplin. Surely you all know the entertainer, the maple leaf rag. Well, Scott Joplin also composed operas. Most famously is his opera Trumanisha, which was premiered in 1911, still performed to this day every now and then, including the grand opera of Houston, excuse me, Houston grand opera. And we are going to see an excerpt from their performance of Trumanisha. This excerpt is entitled That Slow Drag. Feel free to dance along, and this will be Carmen Balthrop in The Little Trumanisha. Such a fun number. Again, that was That Slow Drag from Scott Joplin's Trumanisha, which was first premiered in 1911. We are now going to move on to a very influential composer, H.T. Burley, known primarily for his arrangements of what he referred to as plantation songs, what we might today call spirituals, African-American spirituals, black spirituals, Negro spirituals. These were all songs that are perhaps some of the first folk songs of the United States in that they were not down, they were passed on through an oral tradition. And it was Harry Thacker Burley who was the first, perhaps the first anyway, to arrange those, write those down on the page and publish them. We are going to listen to a recording of his own voice performing his arrangement of Go Down Moses. Burley was born in 1866 and that recording was made in 1919 by the George W. Broom Company, which was actually the first African-American recording company. H.T. Burley did not enjoy making that recording. In fact, he didn't enjoy making recordings at all and he hated having to sing into this new fangled thing, the microphone. That was from an album in 1919 called Dvorak Discoveries and the reason they were referring to him as a discovery of the composer Dvorak was that he was actually a student of Dvorak and taught Dvorak a number of the melodies that come from plantation songs. And we end up hearing many of those melodies in Dvorak's very famous New World Symphony. But again, H.T. Burley did not like making that recording and he felt very forced and just unnatural in his singing of that. And I think you can actually hear that a bit in that recording. But his arrangements are very wonderful and so influential on composers that came after him, including Gershwin. There are a number of moments in For You Invest where it sounds as though H.T. Burley might have been the one arranging things. Now on to a female black composer, Florence Price. She's become a little bit more famous in the recent years and deserves much more fame. She was born in 1887 and died in 1953. She was the first African American composer to have work performed by a major symphony in the United States. We are going to listen to one of her art songs. This is a piece called Be Wildermint and is performed by Karen Slacks of Prano and Michelle Kahn of Prano. This is recorded at the Curtis Institute. Again, Be Wildermint by Florence Price. That was Be Wildermint by Florence Price and it is such an emotional, emotional composition and so beautifully performed by Karen Slacks. If you're not already familiar with the music of Florence Price, I very strongly encourage you to get to know her work. She has a choral works, art songs, symphonies, chamber music. It goes on and on and it is all gorgeous music. One thing that really strikes me about so much of her output is that it's very reminiscent of what you might think of as soundtracks from the movies of mid-century America. And then when you think about when she was writing this music, you realize that those movies, those soundtracks did not exist yet. So she really did have quite an influence movies and music and opera that came after her. We have one more composer for you and that is William Grant Still who was born in 1895, died in 1978. I believe I was in middle school or high school when I first heard this name William Grant Still and it was presented to me as if this was the very first black composer ever. Of course he was not, excuse me, he was not the first but one influence he had on those that came after him and also wrote a number of operas. We are going to hear a piece by him called Give Me Nobody Without Your Soul and this is performed by Lindsay Reynolds and Reese Reddick. Again that was Give Me Nobody Without Your Soul from the opera Blue Steel by William Grant Still and that was one of his nine operas that being performed by Lindsay Reynolds. Now we're going to move from composers to those actual singers and this first one is probably, hopefully a name very familiar to you all and that is Marion Anderson born February 27th, 1897 and passed away on April 8th, 1993. She was not the first black opera singer. The first black opera singers existed before we had recordings so I cannot share any of them with you this evening. She was however the first black singer at the Met and she made her debut there in Verdi's Invalo in Masca which will be performing as part of our 102nd season at San Francisco Opera. That debut of hers at the Met was on January 7th, 1955. A few years earlier, 1939, she gave a very iconic performance at the Lincoln Memorial and we're going to see a little newsreel about that here. Most impressive Easter demonstration, 75,000 mass before Lincoln Memorial to hear Marion Anderson, colored contralto, make her capital debut at the Great Emancipator Shrine. Refusal of the D.A.R. to let her use their hall and a countrywide controversy with this great gathering as the climax. The singer was invited by Secretary of the Interior Ikis who attends with Secretary of the Treasury Morgenthau. Spectators include Supreme Court Justice Black, New York Senator Robert Wagner and a host of Notables here to listen to the voice acclaimed by many as the finest in a century. So again that was 1939 which he performed at the Lincoln Memorial after being disallowed to perform elsewhere in Washington, D.C. thanks to many people such as at the time First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt. A wonderful day was made for her at the Lincoln Memorial and in fact that day is picturized in the mural an instant in contemporary American life by Mitchell Jamison which is the image you have to see behind me this evening and there's also the image on my first slide every evening. If you ever want to see that mural in person it is at the Department of Interior in Washington, D.C. You're now going to listen to her sing an arrangement by Harry T. Burley who we heard about earlier. This is his arrangement of Deep River. In that excerpt we just heard when she's singing. She's using a very high range and it's interesting because she is most often referred to as a contralto in a very low you know voice. In that recording we just heard she's setting much more soprano-y in this arrangement of Deep River we get to hear those low dose of tones of hers. The infamous conductor Arturo Toscanini referred to Marion Anderson as having a voice of a century and with a voice like that you can't help but wonder why she was not on more stages. Why she was not in more roles at the Met. There's two reasons for that. If you asked Marion she actually did not like being in stage productions. She got very nervous. She didn't like having to play characters. She just liked to sing songs. But at the same time we have to note that for much of operatic history you did not see black singers on stages and when you did they were often in very small roles. Eventually might become acceptable for a black person to play Carmen or a Eda but those were still very niche opportunities. I am proud to say that at San Francisco Opera we have always had a history of having diversity in our cast and that is something that we continue to do our best to make even more diverse so that the stories we tell represent everybody that comes to see our stories and that the people telling those stories look like the people seeing those stories. More on that later. We're going to move on to Camilla Williams who was born in 1919. Her father was a chauffeur and her mother was a laundry woman. She actually has a connection to Marion Anderson in that she filled in for Marion singing the National Anthem in 1963 and it was actually because Marion was stuck in a taxi on her way to the event because there were such huge crowds coming to Washington, D.C. for that March in 1963. She was also the first African-American professor of voice at a major university in the United States. Here we're going to listen to her singing Summertime in Gershwin's Bogey Invest. That was a 1955 television special a tribute to George Gershwin. It's amazing to think of a day when television specials had opera singers and people didn't change the channel. We're going to move on to Robert McFerrin. If that name sounds familiar, it is because it is Robert McFerrin's senior, the father of Robert McFerrin Jr. known to many of us as Bobby McFerrin. Bobby McFerrin actually at one point was supposed to write an opera for Senator Scaloper. It didn't happen, maybe it's still will. But his father was a fabulous baritone and in 1955 he was the first black male singer at the Met and that was playing the role of the Ethiopian king in Aida. One year later in 1956 he became the first black singer to sing a title role at the Met and that was the role of Brigoletto and that is what we're going to listen to next. This is a clip from that 1956 performance at the Metropolitan Opera conducted by Fausto Cleva and real quick I'd like to share the text with you, the translation of the words of these singing. We are alike. I, the tongue, he the dagger. I am the man who laughs. He the one who kills. That old man cursed me. Oh men, oh nature. You have made me a vile wretch. Oh rage. To be deformed, to be a buffoon. To must not, to do not other than to laugh. The refuge of every man is taken from me. Tears, this master of mine. Young, smiling, so powerful, handsome, sleekly says to me, make me laugh, buffoon. I must force myself and to do it. Oh damnation. I hate you, scored in courtiers. How inviting you I have joy. If I'm wicked, yours alone is the reason. But here into another man I change. That old man cursed me. Such a thought. Why does it still disturb my mind? Will it bring me disaster? Ah no, it is falling. So again those are the words of Rigoletto and Rigoletto plays the role of a court jester and those words are so haunting in that they are of course about a jester whose job it is to make people laugh and to make fun of people and perhaps be the scorn of the people he entertains and in this context hearing it from a black singer it brings on a different meaning. Such a strong, powerful voice encompassed by Baritone Robert McFerrin and of course he has a rather talented son as well. We are now going to move on or should I say back to Leontine Price and she was no stranger to San Francisco opera in her very long career. She of course is still alive, still with us here in America but her performing days are over but during that long celebrated career she appeared at San Francisco opera a number of times including in Aida in October of 1957. She was also in the world excuse me not the world premiere but the American premiere of dialogue of the Carvalhoites which of course we saw recently at San Francisco opera. She was the daughter of a carpenter and a midwife and as I said before on September 16th 1966 she opened the new Metropolitan Opera House performing in the title role of Samuel Barber's Anthony and Priyapatra. Here however you're going to listen to her sing one of the most celebrated arias of all the soprano repertoire that is Puccini's Vici D'Arte from Tosca. Again we have Leontine Price singing Vici D'Arte from Puccini's Tosca and in that aria Tosca is singing about how she has devoted her entire life to her art to her singing and that is certainly true of Leontine Price as well and she lived forever and in that she can't do that it is a small consolation to know that at least she will live on forever for through her wonderful recordings. We're now going to move on to Shirley Verrett who was born in 1931 passed away in 2010. We also saw her at San Francisco opera in several seasons between 1972 and 1985. Here we are going to listen to her performance of Odon Fatale from Verdi's Don Carlo and I should note that in this photo here you see her as Queen Elizabeth and though it is a common practice to paint Queen Elizabeth in white makeup it is perhaps not seemingly as appropriate on a black singer and so let's just give us a nicer photo where we can see Shirley's face there and again here we go on to Odon Fatale from Don Carlo by Verdi. That is such a demanding role. She performs it with just such capability and presence and she is just I could go on and on but I'm in a loss for words. Luckily I have plenty more to play for you as I try and find those words and next up we have Simon Estes a bass baritone born in 1938. His father was a coal miner. His grandfather was a slave. He was seen at San Francisco opera between 1967 and 1981 and here we are going to see him performing along with the Indian price in Verdi's Aida. Something very notable about that performance is that we have two very prominent black opera singers playing two very prominent roles. Again though they are playing roles that it is deemed appropriate to have black people play those roles. Earlier we saw Shirley Barrett who made herself fame in her own right to performing the role of Queen Elizabeth the first and so that would have been a more rare example of a black opera singer reaching to those heights where the stink color no matter no longer matters in terms of interpreting a iconic role such as the group. And we now move on to Jessie Norman who just left us in 2019 although she is often listed as a soprano she has an amazing range and used it widely in many different genres. And here we're going to hear her singing baroque opera. This is When I Am Laid in Earth by English composer Henry Purcell. His opera Dido and Enius and this is the English Chamber Orchestra with Raymond LaParde left in. Now it's Henry Purcell's When I Am Laid in Earth performed by Jessie Norman who was seen at San Francisco Opera on the stage both in recital and in character performances between 1986 and 1993. And I think it's so interesting to note that the performers we have seen thus far were all born at a time where there would have been opera houses in the United States where they were not allowed because of the color of their skin certainly not allowed on the stage and even once black singers did become or did start to emerge on the operatic stage that's not to say that they still would have been allowed through the front door. We're now going to move on to someone that was born in the second half of the 20th century and that is the wonderful Metz as a print of Denise Graves who I actually had the pleasure of performing with. In 1991 as a member of the San Francisco Boys Chorus I was in Carmen and Denise was playing the role of Carmen. Sadly in the dress rehearsal she broke her foot during the death scene and had to perform for the next several weeks while wearing a cast. Imagine dancing the Habanera while wearing a cast. Here we're going to say hear her singing that very well. Again that's Denise Graves singing the Habanera from Bizet's Carmen and now we move on to some Wagner this time performed by Eric Owen singing Votans farewell. We will also see here Christine Gerke who we saw in Elektra at San Francisco Opera back in 2017 that was such a fabulous production. A year before that we saw Eric Owen's on stage at San Francisco Opera as part of the tribute concert to former general director of San Francisco Opera David Gottlieb. So again this is Wagner's Votans farewell and this is from the Lyric Opera of Chicago. We'd love to continue with that recording but of course it's Wagner so he goes on for a good while. We will instead move on to a singer that is younger than me. We loved her. We film absolute love with her as Leonora in this fall's production of Il Trovatore at San Francisco Opera. Here she is telling us that her name is Mimi in Buccini's Lava Land. And again that was Angel Blue and we hope to see her at San Francisco Opera again very soon. We miss her already and we've got one more performance for you everybody and this time it's a tenor. Yes, finally a tenor. This time this is Lawrence Brownlee who we saw in 2016 at San Francisco Opera in Don Pasquale. Here we have him singing a spiritual all night all day and he has a little bit of commentary to go along with that as well. For all night all day and I talk about this often my son Caleb being autistic and the idea that angels are watching over my son is very important to me. One of the drawbacks of this career is I have to be away from home a lot. I'm grateful to do it but this song gives me a lot of peace you know having to leave that angels are watching over my family and my son and so this is something that I nicknamed Caleb's song it's all night all day. From pioneering composers and opera singers to those voices that are carrying the torch of those pioneers this has been my all-to-in-complete playlist of black voices in American opera. I'd love to take a few questions and before I do that I just want to make sure everybody knows of the exciting things coming to San Francisco Opera. This summer we have three fabulous productions for you the Magic Flute Innocence and Partenepay. Even before that this spring and April will be in various neighborhoods of the Bay Area with our production our 90-minute production of La Bohem and what we call Bohem out of the box. And just today we announced our 2024-25 season what will be our 102nd season at San Francisco Opera. So I do hope you all take a moment to go on to sfopper.com and take a look at all the exciting things going on and of course I must take a moment to remind you that San Francisco Opera is a non-profit organization so if it behooves you to make a donation to San Francisco Opera that is much appreciated. If you appreciate uh this tonight's event and all the various diverse events that we have going on at San Francisco Opera I ask you to donate to our organization and help further the cause to make sure that we are telling everybody's stories that everybody is welcome to tell those stories and that everybody realizes that opera is for them that they are welcome at San Francisco Opera. So again I'm Cole Thomas and this has been Black Voices in American Opera and with that I will stop sharing my screen and see what questions I can take. Let me click on the Q&A tab there. So Jeff says what about Black Conductors, Opera Directors and General Managers? Yes Jeff, like I said at the beginning I cannot possibly in 90 minutes go through all the wonderful names of Black Voices in American Opera. Tonight was just a few. I'd be delighted to come back to San Francisco Library anytime and talk about more of them including those Conductors, Directors and General Managers. Sheila asks is Florence Price related to Leontine Price? No, no relation at all just the same last name. And Christina asks could you recommend any new upcoming Black Voices we should try to catch? Certainly I hope you saw a few names there at the end of this presentation that are very noteworthy. This last fall as we premiered or gave the west coast premiere of Omar we had a stunning cast of Black singers all of whom should be followed most especially let me give a shout out to Demes McCorkle who is in the title role of Omar. And Jeff said did most of these singers ring sing in Europe before USA? You know that is such an interesting question they all had careers in Europe whether or not they began in Europe as opposed to here I need to look a little further into. Certainly as we get into some of the later names of this presentation they did have opportunities to begin in the US whereas a lot of earlier singers would have to find a more devoted and accepting and tolerant audience in Europe. And Mia wants to know will this recording be made available? A great question Mia and yes this will be available on the public library's YouTube channel. And Mary Ann says wonderful presentation thank you very much Mary Ann so glad you could be with us. And Elizabeth says I don't know that much about opera but I really like it and was wondering what language they are singing in. We heard a lot of languages tonight we heard English we heard French German Italian of course trying to think of there's anything else that's about it and where can we view this program again like I said that will be available on YouTube. And Judy says you're a fabulous presenter thank you Judy we'd love to hear you interview Will Lieberman when he sings Marcello next summer yes again just today we announced our upcoming season at San Francisco Opera please take a look it includes an exciting performance by Will Lieberman again you can take a look at that at sfopra.com And I saw a hand up earlier is that hand still up yes Jacques Vincent has a raised hand I'm not sure how to oh there we go hello Jacques I don't see you yet but I see a little screen with your name please go ahead with your question you will have to unmute first though Jacques are you still there Jacques okay maybe we'll get Jacques back in a moment and real quick I'm just also going to check the chat window I think there's probably just comments on there but there could as well be questions including yes Laura wants to know when will Omar come back to SF Opera you know often I get questions like that and I'm not allowed to tell you yet in this case I don't know yet I would love to see it back it was really for the company itself we had such a wonderful and important time putting on that opera it was so impactful to see the people that came out to San Francisco Opera to view this story and again speaks to the notion that when we tell everybody's stories when we tell stories that are relevant to everybody we want in our audience that audience shows up and Mia also wants to know if a video will be released of Omar I can only hope and assume there are plans for that whether that be from our company or another I don't have a concrete answer on that though and Crystal wants me to repeat the name of the singer who sang Summertime and yes I can do that I just have to mind myself who's saying Summertime I think that was Camilla Williams right yes Camilla Williams was singing Summertime from Corgi and Bess and that was from a 1955 television tribute to George Gershwin as I said earlier I'm going to get the links to all these YouTube performances and share those with the library so let them share those with you and hopefully you will dive into this rabbit hole of Black voices in American opera so thank you so much for listening to me and to these voices this evening and thank you so much for the San Francisco Public Library for having me and for having San Francisco Opera I hope you'll have me again oh you're muted Anisa I can see you talking but we can't hear you that was so amazing and I just really want to thank this crowd who has been beyond enthusiastic and thank you for all of your you know making that chat be the river of consciousness for this we love it Cole amazing presentation as always and I'm putting a link for tonight's resources I also put in there's how to research music with our library website and don't miss Cole if you want to see this presentation in person talk to Cole meet him in person it will be this Saturday 3 p.m. at Bernal Heights and then on March 2nd March 3rd March 2nd 3 p.m. at Western Edition and yes I will send out a follow-up email Cole give me some links and I want to thank you all again thank you Cole that was great and yes bring back your work I'll do my best