Black Opera Leaders in the United States: What Is Their Role in Black Opera?

Abstract

Though scholarship has documented Black opera leaders' contributions to the art form in the United States (André, 2018; Caplan, 2017; Cuyler, 2021; Southern, 1997; Turner, 2015), they have received scant attention in rubrics that theorize a definition of Black opera (André, 2018; Cheatham, 1997; Schmidt & Schroeder, 1999). However, as their recent advocacy for racial justice (Cuyler, 2022) through their Letter to the Opera Field in 2020 revealed (Cuyler, 2023), Black opera leaders play a powerful and unique role in shaping audiences' appreciation, engagement with, and understanding of Black opera (André, 2018; Cuyler, 2023; Floyd & Cuyler, 2023). In addition to their positionality as observers of and participants in opera companies' decision-making processes, their advocacy for racial justice can compel an opera company to program Black opera, or not (Cuyler, 2021, 2022, 2023). Therefore, in this chapter, I explore the research question, what is the role of Black opera leaders in Black opera? Lastly, I propose a theory of the dynamic process that includes artistic programming and casting, hiring, community engagement, and audience development which enables the development of an audience for Black opera when Black opera leaders view their leadership of these areas of work through the lens of racial justice.

Citation

Cuyler, A.C. (2024), "Black Opera Leaders in the United States: What Is Their Role in Black Opera?", Bérubé, J., Dioh, M.-L. and Cuyler, A.C. (Ed.) Accessibility, Diversity, Equity and Inclusion in the Cultural Sector, Emerald Publishing Limited, Leeds, pp. 31-45. https://doi.org/10.1108/978-1-83753-034-220241005