X: The Life and Times of Malcolm X
Story & Setting:
Director Robert O’Hara’s retelling of the civil rights leader’s life imagines Malcolm as an Everyman whose story transcends time and space. Thulani Davis’ updated libretto takes the audience through a series of vignettes from Malcolm X’s life: from boyhood to his assassination in 1965.
Opera Notes:
Despite being written and premiered in 1986, Anthony Davis’ first opera remained in relative obscurity until recent years. Davis described his compositional goals for this piece as “an American opera that drew equally from the African diaspora and the European, where the improvised and subversive spirit of the blues meets the form and structure of Berg and Stravinsky.”
This production contains some strong language and themes. Recommended for MS+.
Sung in
English
Length:
3 hours
Anthony Davis (b. 1951)
Watch/Listen
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