X the life and times of malcolm x
•
Anthony Davis&#;s X: The Life and Times of Malcolm X
Anthony Davis’s opera is based on the life and death of the charismatic black human rights campaigner Malcolm X. It receives its Met premiere production this årstid as part of a programming policy to include work outside the traditionally accepted canon, work that speaks to contemporary life. It was an evening, said one critic, with profound impact.
Davis – Pulitzer Prize-winning jazz pianist, composer and educator – focuses on the essential scenes of Malcolm X’s life, from his traumatic childhood to his imprisonment, his conversion to Islam, his activism and, finally, his assassination in
The vivid orchestral score includes Davis’s Episteme jazz octet (whose directions include "respond to Malcolm", "à la Jimmy Garrison" and "Miles Davis Funk!") and as well as improvisation incorporates swing, pop and contemporary classical styles.
"I imagined," says Davis, "an American opera that
•
Anthony Davis’s groundbreaking and influential musikdrama, which premiered in , arrives at the Met at long last. Theater luminary and Tony-nominated director of Slave Play Robert O’Hara oversees a potent new staging that imagines Malcolm as an Everyman whose story transcends time and space. An exceptional cast of breakout artists and young Met stars enliven the operatic retelling of the civil rights leader’s life. Baritone Will Liverman, who triumphed in the Met premiere of Fire Shut Up in My Bones, is Malcolm, alongside soprano Leah Hawkins as his mother, Louise; mezzo-soprano Raehann Bryce-Davis as his sister Ella; bass-baritone Michael Sumuel as his brother Reginald; and tenor Victor Ryan Robertson as Nation of Islam leader Elijah Muhammad. Kazem Abdullah conducts the newly revised score, which provides a layered, jazz-inflected setting for the esteemed writer Thulani Davis’s libretto.
Music: Anthony Davis
Language: Sung in English, with English subtitles
Content Advisory: • Page Navigation for: X: The Life and Times of Malcolm X “True staying power Its unbroken flow from genre to genre [is] AS GRACEFUL AS ANYTHING IN OPERA Speaks to contemporary life Dreams of a better future Has the opportunity to become what is always should have been: AN AMERICAN CLASSIC.” —The New York Times “Not just a THOUGHT-PROVOKING show, it is also highly entertaining. YOU MUST GO SEE MALCOLM X.” —MSNBC Anthony Davis’s groundbreaking and influential opera, which premiered in , arrives at in cinemas on November Theater luminary and Tony-nominated director of Slave Play Robert O’Hara oversees a potent new staging that imagines Malcolm as an Everyman whose story transcends time and space. An exceptional cast of breakout artists and young Met stars enliven the operatic retelling of the civil right
X: The Life and Times of Malcolm X
Overview