Met returns with 1st work by a Black composer in its history
ABC News
“Fire Shut Up in My Bones” became the first work by a Black composer in the 138-year history of the Metropolitan Opera as the company presented its first staged performance since March 2020 following a gap caused by the coronavirus
NEW YORK -- “We bend, we don't break. We sway!” sings the chorus in the second act of Terence Blanchard's "Fire Shut Up in My Bones.”
That is how much of the audience of about 4,000 in the Metropolitan Opera felt as they watched Monday night' landmark performance, the first staged work in the house since March 2020 and the first by a Black composer in the long history of a company that launched in 1883.
With many of the women wearing evening gowns and jewels and a large percentage of the men in black tie and even a few in white tie, tails and top hats, people greeted each other to celebrate their return to Lincoln Center after an absence they never imagined.
After a historic gap of 566 days, the country’s largest performing-arts organization had resumed staged presentations in the start of the season scheduled to run until June 11. The return attracted a far more diverse audience than usually attends the Met and was simulcast live to video screens in Times Square and Harlem's Marcus Garvey Park.
