Cincinnati Opera Announces $5 Million Black Opera Project

Cincinnati Opera announced today a new initiative that will underwrite the creation and production of three operas by Black creators celebrating the resilience and vibrant facets of Black cultural experiences.

According to the press release, the Black Opera Project is the first of its kind, rooted in an earlier project funded by the Andrew Mellon Foundation to fund new works by Black composers.

The BOP’s first work, Lalovavi, will have its world premiere in the 2025 Cincinnati Opera season and is an Afro-futurist story composed by Kevin Day with libretto by writer, performance poet and activist Tifara Brown. 

Day is a composer, conductor and jazz pianist with over 250 works that have been performed by soloists, ensembles and orchestras throughout the world. Brown is known for her poetry as well as her role as an advocate for community engagement, serving in that capacity in the U.S. after George Floyd’s murder in 2020.

Lalovavi is a grand opera of three acts for soloists, chorus and orchestra. It will have two performances at Music Hall in a production directed by Kimille Howard, an acclaimed New York-based director who served as assistant director for the Metropolitan’s acclaimed productions of Terence Blanchard’s Champion and Mozart’s The Magic Flute.

Morris Robinson, renowned bass and artistic advisor to Cincinnati Opera, was part of the early discussions that led to the Black Opera Project.

“The launch of The Black Opera Project marks the fruition of dreams long held by Black artists like me…My colleagues and I expressed concern that there were no operas that truly represented the African American culture in a positive, modern, realistic and contemporaneously relatable way.

“I asked, ‘When is there going to be an opera that has the same impact on the operatic stage that the movie Black Panther had on the big screen?’...Cincinnati Opera bought into this vision, fully dedicating themselves to bringing The Black Opera Project to life. I’m excited about what this initiative means both for people of color and for opera fans everywhere who’ll get a chance to see what Black joy looks like on the opera stage.”

Cincinnati Opera’s artistic director Evans Mirageas added, “We’re thankful for the visionary artists and supporters who challenged us to think differently about the types of narratives we present onstage. Kevin and Tifara have created a fantastical new world filled with vividly drawn characters, a thrilling journey, and at its heart, a relatable sense of yearning and optimism for the future.”

The second opera is based on the life of Congressman and civil rights icon John Lewis, with a score by Maria Thompson Corley and libretto by Diana Solomon Glover. It will premiere during the 2026 season.

Cincinnati Opera’s overall financial commitment to the Black Opera Project is $5 million. The lead funder for Lalovavi is the David C. Herriman Fund of the Greater Cincinnati Foundation. Additional funding for the Black Opera Project was provided by the Mellon Foundation and partial support from the Ohio Arts Council and the National Endowment for the Arts.

For more information about the Black Opera Project, visit cincinnatiopera.org.