EDITOR'S PICK: WORLD PREMERE OF TERENCE BLANCHARD'S 'CHAMPION', AN OPERA IN JAZZ |
By Culturekiosque Staff NEW YORK, 4 JUNE 2013 In addition to the ten new compositions
written for his new album Magnetic (released last week on Blue
Note), trumpeter/composer and New Orleans native Terence Blanchard (b.
1962) will take another big step on his continuing creative odyssey with
the world premiere of his new opera. Entitled Champion, an opera in jazz written with Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright Michael Cristofer, is Blanchards first opera. Co-commissioned by Opera Theatre of Saint Louis and Jazz St. Louis, the opera is inspired by the true story of prize fighter Emile Griffith an immigrant from the Virgin Islands who claimed the title of World Welterweight Champion in a fatal 1962 fight which transformed him into a tragic hero and left the two-year old son of his opponent Benny "The Kid" Paret, without a father.
Champion begins over 40 years later, on the morning
Emile is to meet his opponents son, now a grown man, for the first time.
Flooded by memories of his career, his checkered personal life, and a
terrible attack that exposed his greatest personal secret, Emile embarks
on the universal journey of any hero finding himself in the face of his
greatest tragedy. The creative and production team includes: Stage Director, James Robinson Terence Blanchard: Champion (World
premiere), 2013 | |
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