Blue

Washington National Opera presents: Blue, a contemporary opera on racial injustice in the US today, with a libretto by Tazewell Thompson set to music by Jeanine Tesori. Blue tells the tragic story of an African-American police officer whose son is killed by a fellow officer during a protest. Strongly resonating with the Black Lives Matter movement, the piece is equally groundbreaking thanks to its intimate and layered portrayal of African-American family life on the operatic stage.

The Music Critics Association of America named Blue the “Best New Opera” of 2020, while the Financial Times praised it as “an exceptionally strong new opera about race in America,” and hailed Tesori’s music as “eclectic, but assuredly so, full of beauty and eloquence.” The piece is sung by an excellent cast of vocalists, including Kenneth Kellogg as The Father, Briana Hunter as The Mother, and Aaron Crouch as The Son, while The Washington National Opera Orchestra is led by rising star conductor Roderick Cox.

Blue was commissioned and developed by the Glimmerglass Festival four years ago. The development of Blue received major support from the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, and with a grant from the Opera Fund of OPERA America. The commissioning of Jeanine Tesori was made possible in part by OPERA America’s Opera Grants for Women Composers program, supported by the Virginia B. Toulmin Foundation. The world premiere production of Blue at the Glimmerglass Festival was made possible by funding from the National Endowment for the Arts, and with support from The Aaron Copland Fund for Music, The Amphion Foundation, ad New Music USA. Major production support from Betsy and Ed Cohen, Eugene and Jean Stark, and Jacqueline Badger Mars.