“Early Music Seattle and Seattle Opera are each holding virtual town halls on Wednesday, on issues of racial justice. Both events will livestream and also be recorded for later viewing on the groups’ websites,” writes Tom Keogh in Wednesday’s (8/19) Seattle Times. “Seattle Opera’s ‘Crescendo for Racial Justice’ starts at noon and will feature a panel including conductor Kazem Abdullah; Matthew Ozawa, opera stage director; and Naomi André, Seattle Opera scholar in residence. Seattle Opera’s director of programs, Alejandra Valarino Boyer, will moderate…. Seattle Opera has been soul-searching for a while about how to present certain works in opera repertoire—‘Madama Butterfly,’ ‘Otello,’ ‘Aida’—that are either built on racist tropes or typically involve white singers in blackface or yellowface…. Gus Denhard, director of Early Music Seattle since 2000, will host EMS board president Jim Hessler and Seattle Baroque Orchestra music director Alexander Weimann in its virtual town hall, starting at 7 p.m. Denhard has been deeply committed for years to collaborating with regional and international artists of color in presenting original events such as last February’s ‘The Other Conquest,’ a new opera about Montezuma.”
Change font size
